Snapshots
by I-like-chickens
Summary: Snapshots of the Tracy family, from the birth of Scott through to Lucille's death and beyond. ON HIATUS- see my profile for more details
1. Chapter 1

A/N- Hey guys, I'm back after over two years of not posting anything with a new story :D I have already started writing chapter 3 but I'll be posting at week long intervals to give me time to write the upcoming chapters seeing as though I'm going back to college on the 1st which means business for me sigh I hope you enjoy and please review!

Disclaimer- I own nothing

Sunday April 14th 1996

She was tired, more than ready to close her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep, but she didn't want to. She was in pain but happy. More happy than she could ever remember being in her life. Her exhausted smile was reflected in the face of her husband who stood at her bedside, holding her hand in his own larger one.

He used his spare hand to brush her pale blonde locks from her sweaty forehead before planting a kiss on it.

"I love you." He told her.

Her smile grew, giving him all the reply he needed.

"It's a baby boy, congratulations Mr and Mrs Tracy. A healthy 8lbs and 7ozs." The midwife said, pressing the freshly cleaned infant into Lucille's arms. She had a bright smile on her face; the joy of bringing a new life into the world hadn't faded even after 15 years. "He has ten fingers and ten toes, just like what you wanted."

It let out a wail which shocked Jeff at how loud it was. Apparently the baby was shocked too for he opened his eyes and peered around the room as if to see who had been making all the noise. This made Jeff chuckle.

"He has a good set of lungs on him too." He said, the grin evident in his tone of voice. "Just like his Mom."

Lucille rolled her eyes but chose not to comment. Instead she turned her full attention to the writhing bundle in her arms. Her son. The warm feeling in the pit of her stomach increased almost tenfold at this. She was holding _her son_ and he was perfect. He had a head of thick, black hair that she knew would lighten as he grew and bright blue eyes that blinked up at her owlishly.

"Hello, little one." She said to him, tracing his tiny features with her index finger. "I'm your Mommy and I'm going to keep you safe."

He let out a yawn and again blinked up at his mother.

"Such a big yawn for such a little man," She cooed, stroking his stomach tenderly. "You're such a sweetie."

She placed a kiss to his brow and looked to her husband who had been watching the scene with a goofy grin on his face.

"And this idiot is your Daddy," She moved the baby so he was facing Jeff more. "Don't be fooled by his facial expression, he's actually a pretty smart guy."

"Lucy..."

She ignored his protest, "And he's going to love you and protect you from everything that's bad in the world and once he gets a hold of you, little one, he's never going to let go." She looked at her husband now and gave him a soft smile before asking, "Are you going to hold him?"

A panicked expression crossed his face, "What if I drop him or hurt him?"

"Don't be silly, Jeff." She chided, clearly relishing her new role as a mother, "You won't hurt him."

"But, he's so small, what if I-?"

She rolled her eyes before cutting him off, "Sit down here, next to me." She wiggled to her left and Jeff perched uncertainly on the edge of the bed. "Now I'm going to pass you the baby, make sure you keep his head supported, yeah, like that, and that you've got a firm grip on him. See? It's not that hard is it?"

The baby now rested in his Father's arms where he had promptly fallen asleep.

"Isn't he perfect?" Lucille asked.

Jeff nodded, not quite able to get his mouth to form words.

"How is everything going?" The Midwife asked, now cleaned up from the birth. She still wore her smile.

"Great." Lucile told her. "I feel like the most blessed woman on earth."

"He is a cutie. Have you got his name picked out yet?"

Lucille nodded, "We've had it picked out since we first agreed on children: Scott Carpenter Tracy."

"It suits him." She gave a nod of approval. "Now, do you have a camera? I could take some pictures for you if you wanted."

"That'd be great, wouldn't it Jeff?" She looked at him and was shocked to see him crying. "Jeff, what's wrong?" Ice-cold fear shot through her heart. "Is the baby-?"

"Scott's fine, it's just-." Jeff leaned his head against his wife's and didn't make any move to wipe the tears that ran freely down his cheeks. "I'm just so happy."

Lucille let out a sigh of relief, "You're a soft touch, Jefferson Tracy."

The midwife had taken the camera from the table beside the bed and was quickly taking photographs of the happy couple with their new bundle of joy. Their heads bowed together with huge smiles on each of their faces and their son resting between them, they looked like the perfect family.

--

April 29th 1996

"Why won't he stop crying?" Lucille asked with desperation clear in her voice, she was close to tears herself.

Her three week old son bawled from his crib next to his parent's bed, making it the fifth time he had woken them this night. It had been the same since they had brought him home from the hospital and Lucille was slowly starting to go insane, she needed to sleep.

Jeff sat up in bed and pulled his young wife towards him and held her close, stroking her hair as the baby continued to cry.

"I don't understand why he keeps crying." Lucille said before finally breaking down into sobs. "The Doctor says there's nothing wrong with him...I don't understand!"

"Ssh, Lucy, it's okay." Jeff whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I'll see to him, you go back to sleep."

Jeff slipped out of bed and padded across the hardwood floor to his son's crib, he picked him up before exiting the room.

"What's the matter with you, huh? You know you're driving your Mommy insane..."

He made his way into the nursery, which was across the hall from his and Lucy's room, and paced around the room, rocking the child.

"You can't be hungry, you're not due a feed until 6 and you're not wet." Jeff sat down in the rocking chair next to the window, "I just don't know what's wrong with you."

Scott's cries stopped and whether it was from him crying himself to sleep or the slow and gentle rocking, he finally drifted off.

Jeff smiled, wiping the last of the tears from the baby's face. It had been a hard first few weeks, the constant crying had really worn Lucille down and Jeff could tell that if she didn't get a good night's sleep soon she was going to snap.

For him, things hadn't been so bad. He spent most of the day at work and then usually came home to a quiet house, with Scott being asleep. During the night Lucille had insisted that she get up with the baby because he had work the next day. He had let her get up every couple of hours with Scott but he had seen her become more and more exhausted with each passing day and he couldn't stand it any longer.

"It's me and you tonight, little man." He whispered. "Your Mom needs her sleep."

Scott didn't stir.

When Lucille woke the next morning, it was gradual and without the need to immediately get out of bed. It was nice. But wrong, very wrong. Her eyes fell on the digital alarm clock on the bedside table and she shot up. 11.06am.

"Looks like Mommy is awake."

A smile broke out on her face. Jeff stood in the doorway, his hair mussed and still only wearing the boxers he slept in with a dressing gown thrown over the top and their son cradled in his arms.

"I thought you could do with a bit of a lie in." He told her. "And Scott didn't seem to mind."

"Have you fed him?"

Jeff nodded, "At 6 then again at 10, just like you do every day."

"Good. And work?"

"I told them I wasn't going to be for the next few days, I caught a virus." He faked a cough.

She grinned, "I love you Jeff Tracy."

--

5th July 1999

"Why do you have to go? Can't they take somebody else?"

"You've never been bothered before."

"Never been bothered?! Of course I've been bothered, every single time you stepped foot on that stupid rocket! It terrifies me! What if you never come back? What would I do? Raise Scott by myself?" Lucille let out a bitter laugh. "Feels like I'm doing that sometimes already, you're never home anymore!"

"Mommy?" Their three year old son stood in the doorway to the living room, his eyes wide.

"Not now, Scott." She said, sharply. "I'm talking with your Father."

"Don't take this out on him!" Jeff roared, moving to the doorway and picking their son up, resting him on his hip. "We'll talk about this later."

"So you're just going to run away again? God, Jeff, you're unbelievable." She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm not running away, I just don't think we should be having this conversation in front of our son." He told her walking out of the room. He went into Scott's bedroom and set him down on the floor, "Be a good boy and play with your toys, huh?"

"But I want to play with you, Daddy!" Scott protested, his little face contorted with sorrow and his arms outstretched to his Father.

"We'll play later, Scotty, I promise. I just need to talk with Mommy." Jeff told him, he crouched to his son's level before planting a kiss on his forehead. "I'll take you to the park and we'll play on the swings. Does that sound like fun?"

Scott nodded his head vigorously.

Jeff ruffled his hair before leaving the room. When he re-entered the master bedroom Lucille was sat on the edge of the bed with her arms wrapped around herself and tears in her eyes. She didn't turn to look at him as he sat next to her, her eyes remained fixed on the wall in front of her.

"I can't do this anymore." She murmured. "I need you here with me."

Jeff wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him, and she buried her head into his shoulder. Her body shook with barely repressed sobs.

"I'll quit." He said.

She didn't say anything.

"After this mission, I'll tell them I won't be coming back."

She looked at him with tear-filled eyes, "I know you won't, you love being an astronaut as much as you love me."

"That's not true." He told her, taking her face in his hands. "You mean everything to me. Without you I'd be nothing, it's the truth. I love you, Lucy."

She shook her head and a tear rolled down her cheek, "If you loved me, you'd quit right now."

He frowned, "You know I can't do that."

"Then you don't love me." She moved her head away from his grasp. "Or the children."

Jeff was about to protest but then stopped. Puzzled, he asked, "Children?"

"I went to the Doctor's this morning." She told him. "I'm pregnant."

"What? That's great, wow." He moved to kiss her but she pulled away. "Lucy?"

"I want you to leave." She told him, refusing to look at him. "I just can't do this anymore."

"You can't be serious, Lucy. Please..." He tried to make her look at him. "Please, Lucy, I love you, I-."

"Stop saying that! You don't mean it!" She stood and stalked from the room but in the hall he caught her wrist in his hand and pulled her to him. She struggled to free herself but his grip was too strong, "Let go of me!"

"No. Not until you look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me anymore." His voice was laced with desperation and tears were present in his eyes. "If you can do that then I'll pack my bags and go and if you can't...Well, then you know you're making a mistake."

Her pale blue eyes met his ocean coloured orbs and she spoke the words, "I don't love you, Jeff Tracy." Tears ran freely down her cheeks. "I'm visiting my sister tomorrow, you can come and get your things then."

His heart fell and any hope he held in his heart died with those words, "Fine. But can I ask you one thing?"

She nodded.

"When did you stop loving me?"

She covered her face with her hands and refused to look at him, "I don't know if I ever did, Jeff, I was young, I was barely 20 when Scott was born. I might have thought I was, but how can you be in love with someone who's never there?"

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Not that it matters because you'll be on the moon, but, the baby is due on the 30th January."

Jeff didn't say anything and made his way down the stairs, just as he reached the bottom he heard footsteps on the hardwood floor and he turned to see Scott stood on the top stair.

"Is it time to go to the park now, Daddy?" He asked, eyes full of hope.

"No, son." Jeff refused to look at him, his sock-clad feet were all of a sudden very interesting.

"But, but, you promised!" Scott sounded heartbroken.

"I know I did, Scotty, but we can't go to the park today. Daddy has to go somewhere." Jeff hazarded a glance at his son, telling himself not to break out into tears. "Be a good boy and look after your Mommy."

He heard Lucille's tear-choked voice but didn't see her, "Just go, Jeff."

He nodded and left.

--

October 23rd 1999

Jeff smiled as he pushed Scott on the swing, earning him squeals of delight the higher it went.

"Higher, Daddy, Higher!" Scott screamed in-between giggles.

"But if you went any higher, you'd be flying!" He told his son, enjoying this moment between Father and son.

"But I want to fly, Daddy! I want to be like you and fly rockets and planes and cars and-."

"Cars don't fly, Scotty."

"No but they go really, really fast!"

Jeff laughed, "You're right there." He eased off and the swing began to slow, "How about we go for some ice cream?"

Scott nodded and jumped off the swing once it stopped, he hugged his Father's leg and Jeff ruffled his hair. He let out a surprised giggle as Jeff began to walk with Scott still clinging on to his leg, "Faster, Daddy!"

Jeff quickened his gait but made sure he wasn't going to fast in case Scott loosened his grip. When they reached the car Jeff picked up his son before throwing him into the air and catching him once again.

Scott laid his head on his Daddy's shoulder and wrapped his arm around Jeff's neck, "You're funny."

"Of course I am, all Daddies are funny. It's our job." He told him, squeezing him softly before opening the door of the car and setting Scott down into the booster seat. As he strapped him in he made funny faces which had Scott giggling again.

"You're silly."

Jeff just grinned and closed the door of the car before going and getting in himself. As he put his seat belt on he heard Scott yawn.

"Are you feeling tired, little man?"

Scott nodded, "But I still want ice cream!"

Jeff laughed as he started the engine, "You'll get your ice cream, you don't have to worry about that. Just don't tell Mommy or she'll kill me."

"Why?"

"Why? Because it'll ruin your appetite for dinner, that's why." Jeff told him.

Scott nodded and was silent for a couple of minutes before saying, "What's an appedtight?"

Jeff laughed again, "An appetite is what you'll ruin if Daddy gives you ice cream before dinner."

"Oh okay."

At the ice cream parlour Jeff bought them a strawberry sundae to share. The lady behind the counter, after exclaiming about how cute Scott was, had put extra strawberry sauce and sprinkles on it much to Scott's glee. And now after only three spoonfuls he had it all over his face, it was an adorable sight. Jeff pulled his digital camera out of his pocket (he carried it with him everywhere, just in case of moments like these) and snapped a couple of Scott getting the ice cream everywhere.

The lady behind the counter, not having much else to do, had walked to their table and held her hand out for the camera, "I'll take some shots of you two together."

"That'd be great, thanks."

She grinned, "No problem. Your son is such a sweetie pie, it'd be a crime to_ not_ get some photos."

"Thank you, ma'am."

She just grinned; taking a picture of Father and son together and both wearing smiles of her own, another Scott eating the ice cream with Jeff trying to wipe up is face, a third of Scott shying away from his Father's touch.

"Look, honey, Daddy hasn't eaten any ice cream!" The lady said, still grinning as wide as before.

"Daddy!" Scott said outraged before shoving a spoon full of ice cream at his Father's mouth, missing and having it go all over Jeff's face.

The lady laughed, having taken a picture of Scott mid-action and one of the aftermath, "Now those are keepers."

Another family entered the ice cream parlour and she reluctantly turned the camera off and placed it on the table. "I'll see you later, sweetie," she said, waving at Scott.

Jeff thanked her again while wiping ice cream from his face and she just smiled back at him, "It was no problem, Sir."

Scott had waved back at the lady but in the process ended up dropping his spoon on ice cream into his lap. Jeff winced, he had put a bib on his son to hide any evidence of ice cream and as he cleaned the ice cream up he winced again at the white stain it had left. There was no way he was going to be able to hide the fact he'd given Scott ice cream.

"Ah well." He murmured. "There's no use crying over spilt milk, whatever form it comes in."

They continued to share the ice cream in relative silence before Scott asked, "Why don't you live with me and Mommy anymore?"

He looked up at Jeff with wide, innocent eyes and Jeff felt his heart clench in sadness.

"Because Daddy...well, Daddy made some mistakes. He never spent enough time with you or Mommy and he never told her how much he loved her." Jeff found it hard to explain.

"But, you do love her, don't you, Daddy?" Scott asked.

"Of course I do, I love her as much as I love you and you know how much that is, don't you?"

Scott nodded his head vigorously before spreading his arms out as wide as he could, "This much!"

Jeff smiled, "That's right."

Scott's facial expression became thoughtful as he ate another spoonful of ice cream, "Mommy cries sometimes, Daddy, and it makes me sad. I don't like it when Mommy cries."

Jeff didn't say anything for awhile, he didn't know what to say to that. This made him feel miserable because he knew Lucy was suffering and no matter how much he had begged her to let him help her with things she had refused. She was a stubborn lady, more so than he had ever given her credit for.

"You know that Daddy is going to the moon tomorrow, don't you?" Jeff asked his son.

Scott nodded, "You're going to drive a big rocket!"

"I am, Son, but it also means that I won't be able to see you for a long time. You remember like last time? When Daddy wasn't with you and Mommy for a long, long time?"

Scott nodded before bursting into tears, "But I love you, Daddy! I don't want you to leave!"

Jeff pulled Scott to him and wrapped him in a hug, ignoring the ice cream that Scott managed to smear everywhere. "It's okay, Scotty, don't cry."

"But...but...I don't want you to go!"

"I know and Daddy doesn't want to go either but you've got to be a big boy." Jeff told him, the sadness he had felt had increased tenfold. It was true that he didn't want to go and he was angry that when he had resigned from his post it wouldn't be taken into effect until February when he returned from space.

The first time Jeff had gone to the moon after his son had been born was when Scott had only been three months old, when he had returned after his four month rotation Scott had grown so much it had surprised him. Jeff had continued with the rotations as he had before Scott had been born and Lucille had never said anything about it until that fateful day in July. Jeff let out a sigh and wished he had handed in his notice as soon as Scott had been born so he wouldn't have missed so much.

He forced himself to carry on the conversation, repeating information that Lucille had already told their son but he wanted to make sure he understood, "While I'm away Mommy is going to have a baby, a little brother or sister for you to play with. That's why Mommy's tummy is getting so big."

Scott nodded against his chest, hiccupping occasionally as he spoke, "I'm going to be a big brother."

"You are and I bet you're going to be the best big brother in the world."

Scott looked up at Jeff then, a small smile breaking out across his face, "Really?"

"Would I lie to you?" Jeff grinned at his son but it was quickly wiped away when he caught a sight of the time on his watch. "Oh no! We're late, Scotty! Mommy is going to kill me!"

Jeff did the best clean up job as was possible in five minutes. He made sure Scott's face was free from ice cream and strawberry sauce and that his clothes were as clean as could be before giving the table a quick wipe and depositing all their trash in the rubbish bin. He waved goodbye to the lady behind the counter as they left, patting his pocket to be sure he had his camera, and Scott who he was carrying in his left arm waved too and shouted, "Goodbye, lady!"

She flashed him a smile, "Bye bye, sweetie!"

They reached Lucille's house in record time and as Jeff had expected she was stood on the porch with a displeased look on her face. Scott waved as they pulled in and Lucille raised the hand that had rested on her growing belly to wave back, her expression softening somewhat.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." He said when he reached her. "I lost track of the time."

"Hi Mommy." Scott wrapped his arms around the top of her legs and planted a kiss on her bump. "Hi Baby."

"Run on inside, Scott. The TV is on."

"Okay." He said brightly and just as he ran inside he stopped and turned to his Mother. "Daddy still has an appedtight, Mommy, 'cause he didn't eat as much ice cream as me."

"Ice cream?" Lucille asked, raising an eyebrow and fixing Jeff with a stony stare.

"Yup, we had ice cream but I wasn't 'posed to tell you 'cause I don't want to ruin my appedtight." Scott made an 'Oops' face once he realised what he had said. "Woops, sorry Daddy."

"It's okay, son, you go watch TV while I talk to Mommy. I'll say goodbye before I leave."

Scott nodded and ran inside and Jeff guiltily turned to gaze to his wife, "Sorry Lucy, I just wanted to give him a treat."

She rolled her eyes, "Just don't do it again."

There was an awkward silence between the two adults for a moment as they thought of what to say.

"I've handed in my resignation." Jeff said finally. "It goes into effect when I get back in February."

She nodded, "I'll get a message to you as soon as I can after the baby is born. I thought about Sally Kristen for a girl or John Glen for a boy."

"Sally Tracy." He said testing the name, "I like it."

"What makes you think the baby won't have my maiden name?" She asked. Lucille herself had legally changed her name back to the one she had before she got married; it had been the first thing she had done after they had separated, the second was filing for a divorce which had gone through the week before. "I'm the one that will be raising it after all."

"You're right, I suppose." He said, sadly. It hurt him to know that he wasn't going to be involved in this child's life as much as he wanted. "I'll go say goodbye to Scott."

She watched him go, not moving from her spot on the porch. She had pushed for the divorce to be done as quickly as possible, trying to rid herself of any memory of Jeff and convince herself that she wasn't still in love with him.

It was for the best, she thought, this way he wouldn't be able to let the family down and disappoint the children when he wasn't around. She had been surprised, though, when she had read about his resignation from NASA barely a week after they had separated. It had warmed her heart to think that he had done it for her, she knew how much he loved the stars for she too felt passionate about them, but she had steeled herself not to cave into asking him back. She was on her own now and it was better this way, no matter what she still felt.

When Jeff reappeared on the porch she couldn't help herself, she pulled him into a hug, "You better come back, Jeff Tracy, or else I'll hunt you down myself and kill you."

He let out a soft laugh, "I wouldn't want you to do that."

She dropped her arms and moved away from him, an almost sheepish expression on her face.

"Look after yourself now, you hear?" Jeff said, the sudden use of the southern accent bringing a small smile to Lucille's face. He moved close to her and put a hand on her round stomach, "Seriously, though, take care of yourself and the baby and don't let Scott run you ragged."

She didn't move away from his touch like Jeff thought she would, instead she put her hand over his. The baby gave a kick right under Jeff's palm and he couldn't help but break out into a huge smile.

And he couldn't help but feel there was hope left for them yet.

--

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- A huge thanks to those of you that reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

October 28th 1999

4.30pm

"Scott, honey, what have I told you about leaving your Lego in the hallway, huh?" Lucille called as she piled her dirty laundry into a basket, her bedroom door was open and so her voice carried easily to her son's bedroom across the hall.

She heard Scott come padding into the hallway and start to pick up his Lego; she smiled at how lucky she was, she had heard horror stories from the other mothers at the Play Group where she took Scott about how boisterous and destructive their toddlers were. Scott had never been like that, though, she had to admit, he was very domineering. She had seen him bossing the other children around something rotten the last time they had went, even the older kids. He was also incredibly smart, he was talking much earlier than the other kids his age and was speaking in full sentences before they could string a couple of words together. It made her proud when the others mothers would comment on her son.

She took her basket, setting it down in the hall before disappearing into the bathroom and collecting the dirty clothes from there. Scott had disappeared back into his room and she could hear him playing with his toys.

Once all the dirty washing was in the basket she moved to the doorway of her son's room and watched him. He had his back to her so he didn't notice his audience and continued to play on unaware. Lucille watched him for nearly 10 minutes before she made her presence aware, "What do you want for dinner, honey?"

He jumped and twirled around, a shocked expression on his face. It was so adorable that Lucille let out a soft laugh, "You're so cute!"

He came bounding over to her and wrapped his arm round her legs in a hug, "Mommy, you scared me!"

"I didn't mean to," She told him. "Do you forgive me?"

Scott nodded his head vigorously, "Yup."

"So, what do you want for dinner? Do you want chicken with baby potatoes and green beans? Or maybe carrots instead of green beans?"

"Erm..." Scott looked like he was deep in thought. "I want carrots!"

"Okay, honey. I'll get it started once I've put the washing in the machine." She went and picked up the washing basket. "You staying up here to play or are you coming downstairs?"

"I'm staying here, Mommy."

"Okay, Scott."

She went to walk down the stairs but, suddenly, slipped on something and before she knew it she was at the bottom of the stairs, flat on her back. Clothes were everywhere from the basket she had dropped as she had fallen.

Scott was at her side and she couldn't help but be puzzled, she had only fallen a second ago? How was he here already? She felt a dull ache at the back of the head and it became clear that she must have hit it as she fell.

She felt disorientated but panicked as her hand cradled her swollen stomach, "Scotty, honey, please. I need you to get the phone for me."

Scott raced into the kitchen; the phone was out of its cradle on the table instead of one of the higher counters which made it easier for the three year old. Scott climbed onto one of the chairs and grabbed the phone in his chubby fingers. He then ran back to his Mother but she had fallen asleep and there was red stuff near her head.

He shook his Mommy's shoulders, clearly frightened, "Mommy? Please wake up. I have the phone for you."

But his Mommy didn't stir, and a frown crossed his face. His bottom lip wobbled but he refused to cry, he had to help him Mommy.

He didn't know what buttons to press on the phone but his Mommy wasn't awake to press the buttons either.

He took the phone with him as he plodded through the house and to the front door, it took a couple of attempts to get it to open but when he finally did he ran outside. He stopped when he reached the front lawn, unsure of what to do. It was cold outside and Scott didn't have any shoes or socks on, it made his toes hurt. He didn't like it and promptly burst into tears.

Scott was lucky that the elderly couple that lived next door pulled up into their driveway at that moment.

"What's the matter, little one?" Asked the lady as she made her way over to the child, a frown clear on her face. "Where is your Mommy? And why do you have a phone?"

Scott began to sob harder and any words he spoke were unrecognisable. He held his hands up to her and she picked him up, hugging him to her chest. She tried to shush him but it wasn't really having an effect on the clearly scared three year old.

"Let's go see if we can find your Mommy." She said to him and then called to her husband, "Frank, I'm going to see if I can find his Mother."

Frank nodded, "I'll come with you, he looks terrified."

They stepped into the house and it soon became obvious why the child was so distressed.

"Let me have the phone, sweetheart." She said to Scott and he gave it to her immediately. Frank took it from her and proceeded to phone for an ambulance.

She knelt on the floor next to Lucille's side and with the arm she wasn't holding Scott with took her pulse. She was relieved to find it strong, if not a bit quick. She took one of the towels that had been thrown from the basket in Lucille's descent and pressed it to the wound on the back of her head.

Lucille's eyes flickered open and her hands moved to her bump, "The baby!" She murmured, "Oh please, tell me I haven't hurt the baby."

Scott climbed from the neighbours grasp and went to sit next to his Mother's head. He placed a kiss on her forehead and said in his most earnest tone of voice, "Everything will be okay, Mommy."

He then patted her on the head and she forced herself to smile.

--

28th October 1999

9.00pm

Lucille laid in her hospital bed and cried, she was both physically and emotionally spent. The past few hours had been the most terrifying of her life and she had found it hard to understand just exactly was happening. There had been a flurry of activity around her as soon as she entered the hospital; she had been surrounded by Doctors and Nurses who both tried to calm her and wean information from her as they treated her. All she had been concerned about was her baby.

"_We'll have to deliver it now," The Doctor had said, "The baby is getting more and more distressed, it's too dangerous to leave it." _

"_I'm only 24 weeks along!" Lucille had wailed, tears rolling down her face. "The baby will never make it."_

"_There's a better chance of your baby surviving if we delivered it now than if we left it." The Doctor had told her, trying to make her understand. "We don't have a lot of time."_

The baby had been born via caesarean section shortly after this conversation. It was a boy, she had been told, but she had yet to hold it or even see it. It had been whisked away to the Intensive Care Unit, the midwife had stayed with her after the baby had been born and had talked to her and tried to calm while telling her what was happening with the baby. She had found it hard to pay attention, she was scared and in pain.

"_12 inches long," The midwife had told her, "And 1lb and 7ozs. He's in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the moment because he's so small and having a bit of trouble breathing but he's going to get the best care possible." _

_Lucille had scoffed, "I've bought bags of sugar that weighed more than that, how can a baby that small possibly survive?" _

_The midwife stroked her hair from her face, "It's normal to be scared." _

"_I'm not scared, I'm terrified." _

Lucille had had her own injuries treated, a slight concussion and extensive bruising to her lower back, and the midwife had stayed with her throughout the whole thing. She had talked with her about the baby until Lucille had had nothing more to say and then she had started asking Lucille questions about Scott.

"_You know, I still remember his birth and how happy you and your husband were." The midwife had said. "He's not waiting outside is he?"_

_Lucille shook her head and her eyes immediately began to tear up, "He's...he...he had to go away on business."_

"_Oh, sweetheart." The midwife said, her tone sympathetic. She pulled Lucille into a brief hug. "Is there anyone waiting for you?"_

"_My son is outside with the neighbours." Lucille told her._

"_I'll let them in."_

"Mommy!"

"Hey, honey." She said, wiping away her tears. "How are you doing?"

"Frank and Lily looked after me, Mommy, and Frank took me to the food place and I had pie and potatoes and juice!" He told her excitedly, clutching at the edge of her bed. "And then when I ated all my dinner, Frank got me a really big cookie! It was this big!" He demonstrated appropriately.

"And did you eat it all?" She asked, he voice shook slightly as she shot Frank and Lily grateful looks.

Scot gave her an outraged look, "Of course I did, Mommy, I'm a big boy."

"I know you are, honey." She said, reaching out and stroking his hair. "Do you want to come and sit with me?"

Scott nodded his head and Frank lifted him up onto the bed, the three year old immediately snuggled up to his Mother's side and wrapped his arms around her and yawned, "Are you poorly, Mommy?"

She nodded her head, "Don't worry about it, Scott, why don't you go to sleep?"

"Okay, Mommy." He said, yawning again and blinking tiredly but not quite falling asleep.

Lily moved so she was stood next to the bed and took Lucy's hand in her own, "How are you doing, darling?"

Lucille broke down into sobs again, and Lily did her best to soothe her. She wrapped her arms around the young woman and drew her close, being mindful of both Lucille's injuries and the child that sat between them.

--

October 29th 1999

7.00am

The tiny being in the plastic box seemed unreal, so unbelievably small that Lucille found it hard to comprehend it was a living, breathing baby. A small knitted hat covered the miniature head, pale blue in colour, and he wore a cloth diaper. He lay on his front, to help with his breathing she presumed, with his tiny head to the side, clearly displaying his miniscule features for his Mommy to see.

He was covered in so many different pads and wires and connected to so many different machines she was terrified about even touching him without pulling something and causing him pain. With all the wires and machines she felt separate from the baby, as if they were a barrier to her getting close.

Her bottom lip wobbled and she tried not to cry. The past few hours had been a whirlwind of emotion and pain that hadn't receded. She had been encouraged by her nurse to get up and walk around this morning and Lucille had found it almost impossible after her fall of yesterday and the caesarean section which had delivered her baby three months early.

"_The sooner you get up, the easier it'll be." The nurse, Karen, had told her. _

Lucille had tried and had managed only a few steps before the pain had nearly made her legs give way. The nurse had smiled at her kindly as she had helped her into a wheelchair and had given her a pillow to cuddle against her stomach, explaining that it helped with the pain. She had then wheeled Lucille out of her room.

"_I think it's about time you saw your son." She had said. _

It was overwhelming to see him for the first time, he looked almost alien.

A nurse approached her then, a soothing smile on her face, "Hello Lucille, I'm Amanda. Karen told me that you're this little guy's Mom."

Lucille nodded, hugging the pillow tighter to her stomach.

"Does he have a name?" She asked, kindly. She had pulled up a chair so she was sat next to Lucille in her wheelchair.

"John." She said, her voice breaking as she spoke.

"It's a lovely name." She told her. "It suits him." She petted Lucille's arm softly, "I know this is frightening for you, seeing John attached to all these machines but they're all here to help him."

Lucille nodded stiffly, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"He's in an incubator at the moment; it keeps him warm which is very important, because he was born so early he wasn't able to build up any fat to keep himself warm with. He's also on a ventilator at the moment which helps his lungs with the job of breathing. Unfortunately last night John was diagnosed with Respiratory Distress Syndrome which is why he needs the ventilator. I know this sounds scary but a lot of premature babies have this syndrome and three out of four needs the help of a ventilator. The pads on John's chest are attached to this machine which monitors all his vitals and tells us how he is doing, the alarms may sound quite often but try not to worry as there are always members of staff around to help John and explain what is happening, okay?"

Lucille nodded again and listened carefully as Amanda explained all the other wires and tubes, the explanation drove home how precarious John's hold on life was and she couldn't help but burst into a fresh bout of tears.

Amanda stood and carefully pulled the younger woman into a hug, stroking her hair as she sobbed.

"I want Jeff!" She cried. "I can't do this by myself! I'm so scared!"

"Is Jeff your partner?" Amanda asked, still stroking Lucille's pale blonde locks. "Is there any way I can get in touch with him for you?"

Lucille sobbed, "I have an emergency number in my purse but that's at home." Amanda had released her from the hug and Lucille cradled her head in her hands. "Oh God, I don't know what to do! My sister is away visiting my parents in France and I have no close friends to help, I mean, I left my three year old with the neighbours! I hardly even know them! What kind of Mother am I?"

Her raised voice had disturbed the tiny baby in the incubator from his sleep and he gave a weak cry of protest at being woken from his much needed sleep.

Amanda tried her best to soothe the other woman, "I'm sure you're a wonderful Mother, Lucille, how about you try and get this baby to nod off back to sleep? Just reach your hand in through the gap here and comfort him like you would have with your other child."

"What if I hurt him?" She asked, her sobs quietening. "He's so small."

"He is small but he has the same needs as other babies. A mother's touch is vital in helping your baby."

Lucille hesitantly reached her arm through the hole in the incubator that had been specially designed for reaching the baby while in the incubator and stroked the baby's back.

"Hush now, John." She whispered to him, leaning forward to get a better look at her newest arrival. "Mommy's here, don't cry."

The baby immediately quietened and he curled his hand around Lucille's finger as she touched his palm. With a tiny yawn he drifted back off to sleep.

Lucille's heart swelled with joy and for the first time in what felt like years, she smiled. And as she did, Amanda used the ward's Polaroid camera to snap the first picture of mother and child together.

--

What do you think? Please leave a review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- A bit earlier than normal but I'm sure you won't mind! I think the next chapter will be up soon, or at least I hope it will, but real life is a bit crazy at the moment with my Mum and Grandad in hospital and the impending arrival of my Spanish exchange partner. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

24th December 1999

Jeff was suddenly scared, standing outside the door that led to the High Dependency section of the neonatal unit of the hospital. Through these doors was his family, the woman he loved and his two sons. He wanted to be in there with them and do everything he could but he wasn't even able to bring himself to open the door.

When Jeff had learnt of his youngest son's birth, the baby was nearly a week old. He had been contacted specially by one of the technicians on earth, a kind man he knew only as Ken whose job it was to relay information from their base on earth to the colony on the moon, and the sad tone of his voice had immediately struck fear into Jeff's heart.

"_What's wrong?" He had asked, eyes wide. "Has something happened to my family?"_

_Ken had sighed, "I got a call from a lady called Lily Strachan about an hour ago, do you know her? She said she lives next door to Lucille."_

_Jeff had nodded, even though he knew Ken wouldn't have been able to see it, his heart had been in his throat, making it difficult to speak. "I know her." He had said eventually. _

"_She said that Lucille had been in an accident at home."_

"_Is...is she okay?" He had asked fearfully before his heart had constricted painfully. "Oh God, the baby..." _

"_She said that Lucille was going to be fine, a concussion and bad bruising on her back but the baby had to be delivered early."_

_Jeff hadn't been able to speak, his mind had raced with terrifying thoughts, the baby wasn't due until January 30__th__... How could the baby survive being born nearly three months prematurely? _

"_She told me to tell you that you have another son but, things weren't looking great for him. I'm sorry Jeff."_

"_Did she say when he was born?" Jeff had asked, almost afraid to._

"_October 28__th__." _

_There had been silence between the two for a few minutes before Ken had spoken again, "I've asked around and Jamieson said he'd cover the end of your rotation. Unfortunately, the big bosses are refusing to launch a shuttle just to come and pick you up. They said you'd have to wait until something major came up before a shuttle could come to get you."_

"_Thanks, Ken, I appreciate it." _

"_No problem, I'll try and pull some strings and see if there's anything I can do."_

It had taken the 'accidental' breakage of a major piece of equipment before a shuttle had been dispatched to drop off the necessary tools to repair it. Jeff had waited for over a month and a half in a consuming fear until he had finally been able to make it back to earth. The days had seemed to last an age, his mind whirring with endless possibilities of 'what ifs' and regrets. He should have been there to help, only God knew how much pain Lucy was in, and he should have been there to give her support.

He had assumed the baby to have died, in his mind there was no way a baby born so premature could have survived.

He had arrived back on earth early on in the morning of the 24th and by the time he had gone through all the post-trip protocols and collected his things it had been approaching mid-day. After stepping foot out of Kennedy Space Centre for the last time, he had driven directly to Lucille's house and had been surprised to find it empty.

He had then gone to the neighbours with the hope of finding out where Lucy was. Lily and Frank Strachan had been kind and they told him how they had been caring for Scott while Lucille had been at the hospital with the baby, what a fine young boy Scott was, and that Lucille had virtually lived at the hospital since the baby had been born.

"_The poor thing," Lily had said, "She's been frantic with worry these past few months. And things haven't been easy either, the little one has spent more time in surgery than his mother's arms."_

He had gone straight to the hospital from this conversation, stopping only briefly to purchase a couple of toys for the baby and Scott at the crazily busy toy shop, and now standing at his destination he felt unable to advance any further. He felt inadequate with only the small bag held tightly in his grasp.

He steeled himself, taking a deep breath, before walking into the room. He rubbed anti-septic onto his hands as his eyes searched out Lucille. It did not take long. She was sat in a comfy-looking high backed chair towards the back corner of the room, her pale blonde hair scraped back into a messy bun, with Scott asleep in her lap and a hand inside the incubator which he assumed held their son.

Upon reaching her he placed a hand on her shoulder and murmured a simple hello.

She looked at him with blood-shot blue eyes, wide in surprise.

"Jeff," She breathed. "What are you doing here? How are you here?"

He smiled softly at her, cupping her cheek with his hand, "It doesn't matter. I'm here now and I want you to know that I'm sorry. I wasn't there when you needed me the most and I hate myself for it, but, I swear I'm going to do everything in my power to make it up to you. If that's even possible."

She didn't say anything for the longest time and he waited with his heart thudding painfully in his chest. Her bottom lip wobbled and her eyes became watery, she had removed her hand from the incubator and now used it to shakily tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry too, for pushing you away when I knew you were doing your best to be with us."

"I-." She shook her head, breaking him off.

"Let me speak. I'm sorry for destroying us." She took a hiccupping breath before continuing, her words pouring out at a mile a minute but never becoming louder than a whisper. "I was scared that you'd never come back, that you'd leave me here by myself to look after our children. I thought that if I pushed you away first then maybe things wouldn't be so bad but..." She wiped a tear away. "I love you, Jeff Tracy, and I need you in my life more than I need oxygen to breathe. You're my everything and I've been so lost without you."

He smiled and pressed his lips to hers and she pulled him so close he nearly fell onto her lap and their still sleeping son.

"I'm never leaving you again, Lucille." He told her, caressing her cheek. "Wild horses wouldn't be able to drag me away."

She grinned softly and let him stand to his full height, she adjusted Scott so that he now had his head leaning against her shoulder and his legs wrapped around her middle before also standing. She moved so she was stood over the incubator her grin now a sad smile, "Jeff, this is John Glen Tracy- your youngest son."

--

14th February 2000

"Welcome home, baby." Scott said, an impossibly huge grin on his little face. "You'll like it here better than that smelly hospital."

The baby just blinked up at him from his resting place in his Father's arms. Now at three and a half months old and weighing close to 4lb the smallest Tracy had finally been released from the hospital. It had been a day long in coming and though John still needed oxygen therapy, he was healthier than he'd ever been in his short life. There were still fears over whether he'd have problems later in life but for now, Jeff and Lucille were just please to have him home.

Scott was stood on the couch next to Jeff, leaning against Jeff's side to get a good look at the baby who looked back up at him with his Mother's pale blue eyes.

"How does it feel to have your little brother home, Scotty?" Lucille asked, she had just entered the house after emptying the car of any remaining items from the hospital. She beamed at the sight of Jeff sat in the middle of the couch, one son held protectively in his arms while the other used his Father as support.

"It's good because we don't have to go to the hospital to look at him anymore! I can look at him at home now!" Scott let out a little giggle, "He's looking at me!" He reached out and before Jeff could stop him patted the baby on the head with all the exuberance of a nearly four year old. "Good baby!"

"Scott!" Jeff admonished him as the baby let out a soft wail. "What have we told you about the baby? Be gentle, you could hurt him."

He pulled the baby so it was leaning against his chest and rubbed soothing circles on his back. Lucille had made her way over to the couch and she checked him over with a few deft checks, a worried expression on her face.

Scott, seeing the pain he had caused the baby, promptly burst into tears.

"I'm sorry!" He sobbed, his face growing red. "I didn't mean to hurt the baby!"

Lucille turned her attention to her eldest son, the baby had stopped crying almost as suddenly as he had begun, she heaved Scott up and hugged him to her chest, "Scotty, it's okay, honey. Just be careful, okay? The baby isn't strong enough to play with at the moment."

"I didn't want to hurt the baby!" Scott cried, though he seemed to be calming down. "I love the baby!"

"I know you do, honey." She kissed the top of his head and set him down on the floor. "You're getting too heavy for me to pick up now, Scotty. You're getting big and strong, have you been eating all your veggies?"

Scott nodded, "I _always_ eat my veggies, Mommy. I'm a good boy."

Lucille laughed lacing her hands in Scott's brown hair, "I know you are and you're a super big brother too!"

"Really?" Scott jumped up and down, a grin wide across his face.

"Yup." Lucille matched Scott's happy expression with one of her own. "Now, if you go look upstairs in your bedroom you'll see that there's a present in there for you."

Scott's expression brightened further and he raced up the stairs, "Thank you, Mommy! Thank you, Daddy!" He yelled as he disappeared from sight. "Thank you, baby!"

Jeff had watched Lucille and Scott interact with large smile of his own on his face and the love he felt for the two somehow seemed to intensify two-fold. He couldn't imagine life without his family, how he had coped all those lonely months on the moon was beyond him. As Lucille turned to him he couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful she was.

He adjusted John so he was again cradled in his arms, his blue eyes looking up at his Father and his tiny little arms outstretched.

"Hey, baby." He said, letting John wrap his hand around Jeff's index fingers. His fingers were so small that they didn't even reach the whole way around. "Do you like at home with Mommy and Daddy and Scotty?"

The baby just looked up at him with unblinking eyes. His wispy blonde hair was mussed and the pale blue baby grow he wore, the smallest in the shop, was still too big which gave him the appearance of being smaller than he actually was. He looked so adorable in this moment Jeff wished he had his camera.

A sudden flash made him blink in surprise. He looked up at Lucille who smiled at him sheepishly with the camera in hand, "You two looked so cute, I couldn't resist."

"You read my mind."

She sat down next to him on the couch and leant her head against his shoulder, her eyes locked on their son's tiny face and his eyes moved to look at her.

"Hey, baby." She murmured, stroking his face softly.

There was a comfortable silence enjoyed between them then, the first one in what seemed like forever. The past months had been hectic with their time divided between the hospital and home and with John being so ill they had been emotionally exhausting. The baby had been released almost a month and a half after his due date, much longer than the other babies on the Neonatal ward. They were overjoyed to have him home.

"He's so tiny."

"You should have seen him when he was born, Jeff, he was so small and it scared the hell out of me. I knew what to expect, the midwife had spent forever talking with me, but I was still in shock at seeing him." She let out a tired sigh. "I couldn't believe that something that small could actually be a living breathing baby. It still amazes me now."

Jeff nodded softly and let Lucille talk, knowing she needed to get this off her chest.

"He's three and a half months old but you'd never guess it. Do you remember how big Scott was at this age? He was more than three times as big and he cried and bawled and would throw his fists about but this baby does none of that. We have to wake him for feeding." She snuggled her head further into Jeff's shoulder. "It's not normal."

"Give him time, Lucy. Before you know it he'll be keeping you up at all times of the night. Just like Scott did."

"That's all I want."

There was a further silence before Jeff broke it again.

"He looks just like you, you know?"

She smiled, "He's lucky then. Not like poor Scott."

Jeff shot her a mock hurt look, "Hey!" But then he smiled. "In all seriousness, though, I think he's going to grow up to look just like you."

Lucille smiled and finally conceded, "I have to admit, he has my nose."

"I'll put this one in his cot and then start making dinner if you want to go check on Scott." Jeff murmured already moving up from the couch and to the Moses basket that had been set up in the corner of the room the night before in anticipation of the baby's homecoming. After setting the baby down and checking he was comfortable he turned to the woman he loved who still sat on the couch. "Well," he drawled, slipping into a soft southern accent. "What are you waiting for, missy?"

"Oh, I don't know." She said, mimicking him, she was standing now and had closed the gap between them with a couple of strides. "Maybe a kiss from my fella might help me on my way."

Her arms had wrapped themselves around his neck and he used his hands that rested on her hips to pull her closer to him. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "It that what you had in mind, ma'am?"

She shook her head and drew him into a long, passionate kiss. They broke away a few minutes later, both breathless, and Lucille whispered, "Now _that's_ what I'm talking about."

Jeff took Lucille's hands in his own larger ones and slipped down onto one knee, the famous Tracy grin was replaced with a serious expression. Lucille's heart beat madly in her chest but she managed to keep a straight face.

"I was wondering if you would do me the honour of making me the happiest man in the galaxy," he let out a somewhat sheepish smile. "Again."

He pulled a small velvet box from his jeans pocket and presented it to her, opening it to reveal an elegant but plain silver ring set with a single white diamond.

Lucille smiled and accepted the ring, sliding it onto her finger she asked, "How did you get this?"

Jeff tapped his nose, "I have my ways."

"I love you." The engagement ring from their first marriage felt good on her finger but didn't feel right without the wedding band, though that was soon to be fixed. "And I want us to be together until death do we part."

--

1st January 2001

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You many kiss the bride."

Jeff tilted Lucille's face upwards and placed a soft kiss on her lips as the gathered family and friends began to clap and then cat-call as the kiss drew on.

It had been a simple service held in the church that had married the couple for the first time and the same priest had led the ceremony. It had been everything Lucille had imagined it to be. Her parents had managed to make the trip from France to see their youngest daughter's second marriage and Jeff's parents had also made the journey, not that Lucille would have expected anything else from the Tracys.

Scott had acted as page boy and had taken this responsibility with relish, and in the weeks before the marriage he had told anybody that would listen about his part in the marriage. Scott looked adorable in his little outfit and even Marie, Lucille's elder sister, had cooed about how cute he looked.

John had sat on his Grandma Ruth's knee throughout the ceremony and had been silent throughout the entire thing. He was still tiny for his age and a sickly child but Lucille had been lucky that he seemed to be having a good day. He wore smart black trousers, a crisp white shirt (which had somehow managed to last the ceremony without getting dirty) and a mini-sized black silk tie. It had cost a small fortune as they had been specially tailored to fit but at the sight of her youngest dressed like that she couldn't help the tears that sparkled in her eyes.

As Jeff led Lucy to the doors of the church he couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked. Her pale blonde hair had been curled and left loose around her shoulders and the dress she wore clung to her frame, highlighting her curvy figure. She seemed to glow as she beamed at those around her and Jeff couldn't remember the last time she had looked so at peace and happy.

Confetti rained on them as the cameras flashed, leaving the two nearly blinded but they wouldn't have changed anything. The day had been perfect.

That night, as Jeff and Lucille danced together to their first song, Lucille grinned up at Jeff. Her eyes twinkled with mirth and he was immediately on guard.

"What?" He asked, not liking the look on her face at all.

"Nothing." She told him, resting her head on his shoulder as they swayed together in time to the music.

"Lu-cy." He whined, sounding so much like their four year old son that Lucy couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?"

She just grinned at him knowingly. Her eyes didn't meet his but instead focused on his lips, he moved forward to kiss her but she pulled back at the last second. She then placed a kiss on his neck, just above the collar, her favourite spot, and whispered in his ear, "You have chocolate all around your mouth."

His eyes widened, "Really?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"For how long?" He asked, he tried to play it cool and took a swipe at his mouth as he pretended to fiddle with Lucille's hair.

"Jeff!" She scolded him but without any real conviction. "You've made it worse than it was before."

He swore under his breath and she laughed again, "Watch your language, Jeff, there's children about."

Jeff looked around and saw the only two children present, his own, were being entertained by Lucy's mother at the other side of the hall, "What are you talking about?"

Lucille just grinned wider and moved one of his hands from her hip to her stomach, "I'm talking about the one in here, silly."

"You mean-?" He asked, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.

She nodded, "Baby Tracy number three is on it's way."

He let out a laugh and picked her up by her waist, he twirled her around in a circle and she let out a surprised squeal.

"Put me down!"

He grinned, "How long have you known?"

"I took the test this morning." She pulled him into a kiss and as she broke away her eyes clouded with doubt, "I know John isn't well and he hasn't even started to walk or talk yet but-."

"We'll cope." Jeff told her, quashing all her fears with those words. "I promise."

--

Review please! It'll make my day!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N- Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreaciate it! Especially Little Miss Bump, you never fail to make my day!

--

2nd January 2001

"Are you certain that you are feeding 'im correctly?" Lucille's Mother, Amelie, asked, her French accent thick with anger. "'E is all skin and bones!"

"Mom!" Lucille was hurt at the accusation.

She had never been close to her Mother while growing up and had seen her only twice since she had started her relationship with Jeff at the tender age of 18, once at her first wedding and then again at the second wedding. Her Mother and Father had moved back to France shortly after they had been married. It hadn't concerned Lucille at the time, they hadn't been pleased with her choice of partner, and with them out of her hair she had been able to live her life how she wanted.

She hated how her Mother always talked down at her, treating her like a child, and was never happy with anything she did. This jab at Lucille's parenting skills upset her more than she was willing to admit, partly due to the guilt she was still feeling.

"I 'ave seen newborns that are bigger than 'im!" Amelie continued, "You must be doing something wrong!"

Tears stung Lucille's eyes but she refused to cry, "He was born three months prematurely, Mom, he's going to smaller than children his age."

John cried from his position in his Grandmother's grip, his face red from doing so since the first raised voice.

"And I am sure that this was your own fault." She tried to soothe the crying baby by rubbing his back but to no avail. "What were you thinking? You could 'ave killed 'im! And where was your 'usband in all of this?"

"He was in space." Lucille told her Mother slowly, trying to ignore the accusations that reverberated in her head. "We were separated."

"'E abandoned 'is family!" Amelie raged ahead, ignoring the pained look on her daughter's face. "You are stupid to think that 'e loves you! You are nothing to 'im but a way of continuing the Tracy name!"

"How dare you!" Lucille finally snapped, her face contorted with fury. "You come into _my_ house and tell me that I can't raise _my _childproperly and then have a go at _my_ husband! We love each other, Mom, no matter what you think!"

She heard Jeff and her Father's voices as they entered the house with Scott.

"I'm nearly 25 years old! This is _my _life and I'm going to live it how _I _want to, doing what I want with who I want!" Lucille screamed as she grabbed John from her Mother's arms but something wasn't right. John hung limply in her hold, his cries having abated unnoticed nearly five minutes previously, and he looked up at his Mother with glassy eyes. A panicked look crossed Lucille's face.

"You stupid girl! What 'ave you done?" Her Mother muttered, accusingly.

"Get out!" Lucille roared, holding her ill son to her chest. His laboured breathing echoed in her ears even as she screamed, "Get out now! And don't you ever think of coming back, you vile woman!"

Her husband, Father and son stood in the doorway with shocked expressions on their faces. Her Mother didn't move.

"'Ow dare you speak to me-!"

"Get out!"

Her Mother let out a sniff of indignation before storming from the room, pulling her hapless husband with her.

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Scott asked, racing to her and wrapping his arms around her legs in a hug.

Jeff immediately noticed the way she was holding their youngest son, "What's wrong with John?"

"We need to get him to the hospital, now!" Lucille told him, her voice full of fear. "He's not breathing properly!"

Jeff started firing out orders, pushing down his own fear, "Scott, Lucille, car now! We'll get there quicker if we drive."

Scott did as he was told but Lucy was rooted to the spot, absolutely terrified.

"Come on, Lucy, John needs to get to the hospital."

She nodded, trying to ignore the hundreds of horrible possibilities and outcomes as her life seemed to continue on its sudden downward spiral.

It wasn't until nearly two hours later that Lucille felt in control again. John had been hospitalised and was getting help with his breathing but the Doctor in charge of his welfare was confident he'd be okay. What had brought on the sudden problems was a mystery the hospital staff were still trying to solve.

Jeff had one of his arms wrapped around Lucille's waist and the other rested of Scott's shoulder as they looked at the youngest Tracy as he slept.

"Is the baby going to be okay?" Scott asked, scared at the sight of John attached to all these wires and tubes.

"The baby is going to be fine." Jeff told him. "He's made of strong stuff, your little brother."

Lucille nodded, "He's a Tracy."

--

13th July 2001

"Mommy! Mommy!" Scott yelled sounding alarmed, breaking Lucy out her thoughts. She immediately dropped the dish she had been washing, not noticing the smash as it hit the floor, and waddled into the living room with her heart in her mouth.

"What's wrong?" She asked, fearfully. Her hand came to rest on her huge stomach and she rubbed at it, nervously.

Scott beamed up at her and pointed at John who was sat a few metres from himself playing with some wooden bricks, "The baby talked!"

"What?" Lucille asked, almost disbelievingly. John was nearly 21 months old and had yet to say his first word, he had only started babbling a few months previously, and Lucille had almost lost hope that it was going to happen any time soon. Scott had spoken his first word, 'mama', at only five months of age. "He did?"

Scott nodded and jumped off of the couch where he had been watching TV and went and sat next to John, he patted his younger brother on the back, encouragingly, and said, "Go on, baby, speak for Mommy."

John looked at Scott before going back to playing with his blocks, a smile on his face.

"Baby." Scott said, tapping the baby on the arm unhappily. "Speak for Mommy."

Lucille's heart sank somewhat but she smiled anyway, "Don't force him, Scott, he'll say his first word when he's ready."

John had always been a quiet child, he had never cried as much as Scott had done and it took some coercing to get him even babble for even a few moments. He knew when you were speaking to him, always cocking his head to one side and listening before going back to his playing, and it was due to this that the Doctor's had assured her that he wasn't deaf. They had checked him over on numerous occasions and could see nothing wrong with him apart from he was still tiny for his age and had problems with weight gain. He was happy, though, always smiling, and that was enough for Lucille.

"But he spoke!" Scott protested, scowling at John who just continued on playing. He knocked a block from John's hand and said, "Stupid baby."

"Scott!" Lucille scolded.

John looked up from his blocks and said, "Scott."

"He spoke." Lucille said in surprise, she went and sat on the couch in shock. "He actually spoke."

"I told you!" Scott grinned, running and jumping onto the couch next to his Mother. "Didn't I tell you?"

"You told me, Scotty." Lucy said, ruffling his brown hair still unable to believe it.

"Scott." John said again, abandoning his blocks and crawling to the couch. He lifted his arms up and Lucille lifted him onto the couch and set him on her other side where he leaned his head against her bump. "Scott."

"The baby said _my_ name." Scott said proudly, he patted John's head affectionately. "He loves me."

"Of course he does, you're his big brother." Lucille told him, her grin wide as it sunk in. "Just like you're both going to be to the baby in my tummy."

Scott followed John's example and placed his head on Lucille's eight month pregnant belly, too, "I can't wait for this baby to be born."

Lucy stroked both of their hair, "Me neither but there's still a whole month to go yet before the baby is ready to be born."

"I know." Scott told her. "But I'm still excited."

Lucille looked up in surprise at the flash of a camera but less than a split second later her grin was back, "I didn't hear you come in.""

Jeff grinned, "I figured."

John looked up at Jeff and held his arms out to be picked up, Jeff obliged and rested John on his hip.

"Scott." John said, planting a wet kiss on his Daddy's cheek. "Scott."

"He spoke!" Jeff murmured, eyes wide in shock. "When did this happen?"

"About five minutes ago." Lucille told him.

Scott had gotten up from the couch and had wrapped his arms around Jeff's waist, "He said _my_ name first because he loves _me_ most!"

"I don't doubt that!" Jeff told the five year old, running his hands through his son's brown hair.

"And I think the new baby will love you just as much, honey." Lucille told Scott. "Because you're going to look after him just like you did with John."

"Him?" Jeff asked, eyebrow raised.

Lucille nodded, "I have a feeling that we're not getting a daughter this time."

"This time? How many kids do you want, Lucy?" Jeff was stunned. They had never spoken about how many children they wanted before, he had assumed that three was the perfect amount and they would be stopping after this child but if Lucille wanted more, who was he to say no?

"Oh I don't know." Lucille said, rubbing her tummy. "How many little brothers or sisters do you want, Scotty?"

"Erm..." Scott looked thoughtful for a moment. "Four! But I don't want any sisters because girls are stinky!"

Lucy and Jeff laughed and she said, "I'll see what Daddy and I can do."

--

15th August 2001

The baby was one and a half weeks late but Lucille didn't mind, one look at his tiny little face told her that the wait had been more than worth it.

"Hello Virgil." She cooed, holding him for the first time. The baby writhed around in her grasp and after a bit of manoeuvring she held him to her breast, letting him feed. Joy filled her, she had been unable to do this with John, she was happy beyond belief that this baby had been born so healthy.

"9lbs exactly." The midwife had told her as she had handed over the baby and Lucy couldn't help but think of John again. The new baby weighed over six times as much as John had at birth.

"He's beautiful." Jeff whispered to her, smoothing away her blonde hair.

Lucille smiled, though exhausted, 36 hours in labour would do that to a person, "He looks like his Daddy."

"I can see you in him, too."

"A perfect combination then."

Jeff stroked the baby's head, "I can't believe I have three sons. Three perfect little boys and the world's most beautiful wife. I am a blessed man."

"And don't you forget that when it comes to the night-time feeding." Lucille laughed.

"Would I do that?" He asked, feigning hurt.

She just gave him a withering look which was quickly replaced by a soft smile as the baby moved away from feeding.

"You had enough, little man?" She asked, covering herself up.

Virgil yawned and was soon fast asleep, safe in his Mother's arms.

"Should I go get the other two?" Jeff asked, giving Lucille's arm a soft squeeze.

"Not just yet. I want to enjoy this quiet while it lasts." She planted a kiss on Jeff's cheek. There was silence for a moment before Lucille murmured, "I love you."

"I love you, too." Was Jeff's instant reply.

"I wasn't talking to _you_." She joked, after a few moments. "I was talking to the new love of my life. Wasn't I, Virg?"

"Well, if that's the way you're going to play it, then Scott's never going to have his wish of four younger siblings come true." Jeff told her, pretending to sulk.

"You're mean." She said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"And you just can't get enough of it." He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah right." She adjusted Virgil in her arms. "Or the receding hairline."

Jeff's hands shot to his hair, "What?" He tried to sound confident but failed miserably. "My hairline isn't receding. Of course it isn't...is it?"

Lucille laughed loudly, "Your face is priceless!"

The baby let out a soft cry at the noise and Lucy quietened her laughter and rocked him in her arms until he was once again asleep.

She was still chuckling when he asked, "It's not receding, is it?"

"You're 30 now, Jeff, it's just a matter of time..." She trailed off, loving the panicked expression on his face. "You just better hope that you didn't pass it onto our boys."

"But, but..." He didn't know what to say.

"I think you should go get Scott and John now."

He nodded before exiting the room, all the while stroking his hair protectively. Lucille snickered to herself, it was so easy to wind Jeff up sometimes.

She stroked Virgil's face, tenderly, with her index finger, "Your Daddy is silly, but, I wouldn't change him for the world."

"Mommy!" Scott exclaimed as he came hurtling into the room.

"Ssh, Scotty. Virgil's sleeping." She told him as the five year old came to a stop at the side of the bed. "Isn't he a cutie?"

Scott looked at the baby in wonder, his mouth slightly open, "He's so big! Baby wasn't that big when he was born."

"No, _John_," she stressed the name, "was born too early to get big but Virgil was in Mommy's tummy for long enough."

Lucy and Jeff were trying to get Scott to call John by his name rather than 'Baby'. It was difficult because Scott was having none of it, he insisted that he should be allowed to call John it because that's what Mommy and Daddy had called him for a long, long time. They refused to give up but with the arrival of the new baby they were eager to make amends and make sure that Scott and John, now able to say a dozen or so words, called Virgil by his name.

Jeff had come into the room now with John balanced on his hip, he went and stood at the other side of the bed and put John down so he could sit next to his Mom.

"Frank and Lily say congratulations and that they'll come round next Tuesday sometime to see you and the baby." Jeff told her. "They had to go, though, something about an engineer."

After all the help that Frank and Lily, the next door neighbours, had been with caring for Scott while John was in hospital, Lucy and Jeff had taken them out for a meal to say thank you and were soon good friends. They were like Grandparents to the children and had both been in attendance at Jeff and Lucy's second wedding. They were such lovely people and great with the children that it was difficult not to have become friends with them.

"I want to get up onto the bed, too!" Scott protested, jealous of his younger brother. "I want to sit next to Mom!"

"What have I just said, Scott? Quiet, please." Lucy reminded him. "But you can come up, there's enough room. Daddy will have to lift you up, though, so you better ask him nicely."

"Daddy, will you put me onto the bed please?" Scott asked, looking at his Dad with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh I don't know." He joked but he walked around the bed and lifted Scott so he was sat on Lucille's left.

"Wow." Scott breathed as he looked at Virgil from close up. "He's pretty."

Jeff laughed as he pulled his digital camera from his pocket, "I'll be sure to tell him you said that when he's older."

"Look at Johnny." Lucille said suddenly.

John had pulled himself up so he was stood, and was using Lucy's arm as a leaning post so he could look down at the new baby of the family. Virgil was facing Scott so John only really had access to the back of his head but it was good enough for him, with one of his pudgy fingers he stroked the baby's deep brown hair.

"Virgil." John said as the camera flashed. "Baby. Virgil."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N- Here it is, the next chapter! I'm sorry if it's rubbish, my brain has gone to mush. Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, I love you!

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

--

6th September 2001

"But Mommy, I don't want to go to school!" Scott cried, holding onto his Mother's legs. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he buried his head into the soft cotton of Lucy's dress. "Please, Mommy!"

She stroked his hair, a sad smile tugged at her lips, "But you've got to go, Scotty. You'll like it once you're in there, I promise."

"But why can't I stay at home with you and the babies?" Scott wailed.

Lucy didn't want him to go either, if she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to admit that her little boy was growing up. She glanced around and saw similar scenes being played out between other sets of parent and child. It comforted her to know that others were going through the same heartbreak.

"Don't you love me anymore?" Scott asked, his watery blue eyes balefully looked up at her. "Because I still love you, Mommy, and I'm not ready to be sent away!"

Tears sprung to Lucille's eyes and she dropped down to her knees, she pulled Scott to her chest and exclaimed, "Of course I still love you! How could I not? You're my baby boy!"

"Then why do I have to go to school?" He asked, his sobbing slowing now in his Mother's arms.

"Honey, everyone has to go to school. Mommy had to go to school when she was your age and she was just as scared as you were but guess what? Mommy had lots of fun and made lots and lots of friends and, when it was time to go home, she had to be dragged away! I'm sure you'll have as much fun and make even more friends than Mommy did!"

"Really?" Scott asked, crying forgotten.

Lucille nodded, "Now, chin-up, Scotty, and go have fun, okay? I'll be waiting for you right here at the end of the day, okay?"

Scott nodded and gave Lucy one last hug, "Bye bye, Mommy!"

As he disappeared past the school gates Lucille called, "Be a good boy and do as you're told!"

Scott didn't give any indication that he had heard her, he was already talking animatedly with another boy his age.

It was a sad moment, the first time one of her children left for school, but she knew it was for the best. After all, she couldn't keep them cooped up for herself the rest of their lives, though, she knew that, despite everything that was going to happen, she would never fully let them go.

When she arrived home nearly ten minutes later, the short walk barely registering in her mind, she was immediately pulled into hug.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Jeff asked.

She smiled as she pulled away, "Of course I am, it had to happen at some point."

She brushed down her dress before turning a critical eye to Jeff, "I thought we agreed on red striped tie?"

"No," he said, tugging the knot tighter, "You said the red patterned tie, I swear you did."

"Well, I meant the striped one. Don't you want this deal?" Lucy asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

Jeff rolled his eyes, "I'll go change my tie."

"Good boy." She said giving him a quick kiss on the lips before he went upstairs.

She went into the living room and checked on her two youngest children. Virgil was asleep in the Moses basket next to the couch and thankfully quiet for the moment. She could honestly say that Virgil was one hell of a lot worse than Scott had ever been when it came to crying, he seemed to spend the whole night screaming and crying but Lucille wasn't the one that was getting up with him anymore because Jeff insisted on doing most of the night time caring. He called it his 'special bonding time' and she appreaciated this chance for sleep.

John was sat with his back to her and didn't show any indication of hearing her approach. He was fiddling quietly with one of Scott's action figures, a soft frown on his young face.

Lucille knelt beside him and ran a hand through his soft, pale blonde hair, "Hey baby."

He looked at her shortly before turning back to the action figure, his concentration still intact. She let out a soft sigh at her middle child's behaviour, Scott would have immediately raised his arms for a cuddle but John never did that and he never cried or threw tantrums unless he was feeling ill. She felt somewhat relieved that he was so easy to care for, though, worry still tugged at her, worry that she wouldn't give him the same attention as the other two and worry that she would miss something wrong with him.

"You'd tell Mommy if something was wrong, wouldn't you, baby?" She asked.

She knew not to call John 'baby' in Scott's presence but with him at Kindergarten she was free to call him as she pleased. Plus, it had kind of stuck.

John looked at her again and smiled brightly, he then turned and pointed at the Moses basket, "Virgil."

Less than a split second later a loud wail came from the Moses basket and all Lucille could do was stare at John in shock, "How did you...?"

But John was once again fiddling with the action figure, bending the arm before letting go and watching it go pack into place.

Jeff entered the living room then and was now wearing the red striped tie, "Virgil's crying."

"I know." She said, standing and coming to meet Jeff in the middle of the living room. She gave him a kiss and adjusted his collar, "I think you're ready to go."

He gave her a kiss then that dragged on for longer than the first, as they broke apart he said, "Now, I think I'm ready to go."

"Go do me proud." She said and he gave her a grin.

"I'll see you tonight, I love you."

"I love you too." With another short kiss, he was gone.

Lucille moved to the Moses basket and picked up Virgil, she held him so his head rested against her shoulder and his front was pressed into Lucille's chest. She rubbed his back and she moved the upper part of her body in a rocking motion. Virgil's cries slowed but didn't stop.

Today would either make or break Tracy Industries, depending on whether or not Jeff was able to seal this major contract with one of the largest building manufacturers in the country. Things were looking good at this moment in time and all things pointed in favour of the contract being finalized during this meeting.

Tracy Industries had been established shortly after Jeff had returned from the moon for the last time and after a few early mishaps and a slow first year things were finally starting to look up.

Lucille was, of course, proud of Jeff's achievement but she also knew she held an important role in the business. Jeff would always talk to his wife about what was happening at work and no major deal was made without Lucille's input because, despite having no qualifications whatsoever, she was gifted with a keen business mind and being able to help with the business came naturally to her.

"Ssh, Virgil." She whispered. "What's the matter, huh?"

He continued to cry, his tiny hands balled into fists that he waved around. She tried to shush him again but it didn't work so she tried singing instead. One of the other mothers she used to speak to at Scott's Play Group said the only way she had been able to get her daughter to drop off was by singing to her. Her soft voice, somewhat uncertain and unsteady at first, soon managed to have the baby fast asleep in her arms once again.

--

15th February 2002

It was once again the middle of the night and Jeff was once again awake but this time, he didn't understand why. The house was silent and Lucille was still fast asleep.

He sat up slowly and ran a hand through his sleep-mussed hair, still puzzled as to why he was awake. He was sure something was wrong.

It was as he swung his feet over the edge of the bed that he realised by looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table he had slept for more than three hours without being awoken by crying. Three whole hours!

He padded his way across the room to Virgil's crib and looked down at his slumbering son. His hands were curled into balls and he smacked his lips together as he slept on his back, he looked the definition of cute. Jeff found it hard to believe that Virgil was already six months old, it seemed like only yesterday he was driving like a maniac on his way to the hospital with Lucy in labour, screaming at him from the passenger seat and clutching her massive belly.

"Six months already." Jeff whispered. "You've grown so much."

He traced his son's features with the most fleeting of touches, careful not to wake him, and tried to ingrain the baby's face into his memory. He wanted to remember him like this forever, so small and precious. Some part of him didn't want to think beyond that moment and to the fact that soon his little boy would be running around creating havoc and pulling away from his grasp like Scott was wont to do nowadays. No, he definitely liked his boys at an age where he could just hold them and feel comforted by their presence in his arms.

"You've got your Mommy's nose, little one." He dusted his finger over the said feature. "And her lips."

He let out a soft sigh, "You'll be so handsome when you're older."

He rested his hand on Virgil's chest and let it rise and fall with the baby's breathing, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to be comforted by the gentle movement. He let his breathing fall into pattern with his son's and in that moment he felt an overwhelming sense of peace and love.

"Don't grow up yet, Virgil, you're perfect just like this."

--

14th April 2002

Lucille had been right when she told Scott all the way back on his first day of Kindergarten that he'd make loads of friends. In fact, Scott seemed to be friends with every single child in his class and when it had come to writing invitations for his sixth birthday party he had insisted on inviting all twenty-odd of them! Neither she nor Jeff had been able to say no to their eldest son and it was because of this weakness they were up to their necks in screaming and crying children.

"Kill me now." Jeff muttered to her as he went to break up an argument that had broken out over a toy.

Lucille snorted, "And leave me to look after these lot by myself? Fat chance."

It had been well organised and at first had gone well. Lily and Frank from next door had helped with all the decorating before the children had arrived and once the party had started Jeff and Frank had led the group of youngsters in numerous games while Lucy had finished preparing the food and Lily looked after the two youngest Tracy boys.

Shortly after the children had eaten and were once again outside in the backyard playing, Lily and Frank had left as Lily had a doctor's appointment. It had been from there that things had gone downhill. Without the support of the extra two adults, Jeff and Lucille were being run ragged by the quarrelling and howling children.

Scott, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. Dressed in a Spiderman costume, he had spent the whole day lapping up the attention from the other children and playing with all his new toys with his two best friends, Tommy Wilson and Reid McFarlane. He had also led the children in a game of Simon Says.

Lucille grinned at the sight of her eldest so clearly enjoying himself, it was all worth it just for his smile.

She made her way into the centre of the yard, her voice bright and cheerful as she asked, "Who wants to have a go with the piñata?"

She was immediately swarmed by children, all screaming at her to choose them first. Her smile didn't falter as she led the children to the tree where the brightly coloured piñata hung.

"Now," She said, "Its Scott's birthday today, do you think it would be nice if we let him go first?"

She got a mixed response from the children but eventually they agreed to let Scott have the first turn. Lucy blindfolded him and spun him in a circle before giving him the bat, Scott took a few wild swings but was nowhere near. The other children egged him on noisily, one little girl was screaming so loudly that she made Lucille wince.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jeff stood at the edge of the crowd of the children with Virgil balanced on one hip and his camera held in his other hand, she caught his eye and they shared a smile.

She gently eased the bat from Scott's grip and he pulled his blindfold off, "You were close, kiddo. Are you going to choose someone else to have a go?"

Scott nodded, "Yeah, I pick...Tommy!"

"Okay then, come on up, Tommy."

It continued like this, with the children taking it in turns, until nearly half an hour later the piñata was finally burst. There was a mad dash for the candy and Lucille used this as her chance to escape to her husband.

"Hey, sweetheart." She said to Virgil and took him into her arms when he reached for her. "Did you have a good nap?"

The eight month old babbled happily to his Mother and Lucy nodded, pretending to understand, "You did? Wow."

Jeff grinned and placed a kiss on Lucille's cheek, "I got some good pictures of Scott."

She tickled Virgil under the chin, "Good, I needed some new pictures for the scrap book."

"I know." Jeff told her.

The scrap book was a project Lucy had started just after Christmas. She was collecting together all of her favourite pictures of the boys and writing notes with them so that when she looked back at the photos she knew where they had come from. Jeff loved the idea but hadn't helped in its construction, knowing it was something Lucy wanted to do herself and also because he didn't have a single creative bone to be found anywhere in his body.

"Have you seen John?" Lucy asked.

Jeff shook his head, "I thought he was with you."

Tendrils of panic gripped her but she refused to let them take control.

"You stay here and watch the kids, I'll go and look in the house."

Lucille nodded and forced herself to smile when some of the kids looked at her, "Go play." She told them and soon the children were running riot once again.

Virgil grasped some of her hair in his pudgy hand and gave it a yank, all the while babbling to himself. She tried to ease it from his grasp but he wouldn't let go, he grinned at her and said, "Mama."

She smiled at him, "Mommy's here."

Virgil had been a vocal child from the word go, sometimes Lucille thought he would cry just to hear his own voice, he said his first word just over two months ago and hadn't stopped talking since. Lucy found it hard to imagine life without the verbal youngest Tracy, though, she was looking forward to being able to fully understand him.

Jeff returned a few minutes later with two little girls in tow, both wore guilty looks on their face and Jeff looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"What's going on?" Lucille asked.

"I think you'll find John upstairs in our bedroom." Jeff told her, looking at the girls sternly as they disappeared into the group of other children before breaking out into a grin. He gave her the camera as she walked passed him into the house, "You'll need this."

She looked at him suspiciously but continued up into the house. Virgil gave another yank of Lucille's hair as he continued on his tirade, his voice oddly comforting.

"John?" Lucille asked as she peeked her head around the door. "Baby?"

John was sat in the middle of the floor; his blonde hair had been scraped back into a ponytail that sat on the top of his head like a tiny fountain, he had lipstick smeared over his lips and his face and had eye shadow everywhere. To top it off, the girls had dressed him in one of Lucille's summer dresses over the top of his own clothes and it looked like he was wearing a tent.

Lucille took one look at him and burst out laughing.

John gave her a wide smile, "Mommy!"

"Hey baby, look at you!" She grinned. "What did those girls do, huh?"

John stood and tried to take a step towards Lucy but ended up tripping on the dress and falling onto his front. He let out a little giggle and laid patiently as Lucille snapped some pictures.

"Doesn't your big brother look cute, Virgie?" Lucille asked her youngest, Virgil yet again yanked his Mother's hair and continued to babble a mile a minute.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

--

A/N- Please tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N- Hello everyone! I've emerged from my lair to bring you the long anticipated (I hope!) next chapter of Snapshots! Sorry that it's so late, everything has been crazy recently what with college and university applications and that. Please forgive me and I hope you enjoy!

Author's note- I own nothing.

--

20th June 2002

"For God's sake, Virgil!"

Jeff had sensed Lucille's foul mood the moment he stepped inside the house but he had wisely, up to this point, tried to ignore it. She had snapped at him for being home late, snapped at Scott for leaving his toys in the living room, snapped at John for getting under her feet and now at Virgil for throwing his dinner on the floor.

"Lucy." Jeff said, his voice calm. "There's no need to get angry."

Lucille slammed her knife and fork down on the dining table, causing all three of the boys to look up from their meals with wide eyes and for Virgil to burst into tears, "Don't talk to me like I'm a kid."

"I'm not." Jeff told her, trying to think of a way to placate his obviously irate wife. "I just don't think you should take your bad mood out on the boys."

"Oh, here comes another lecture from the almighty Jeff Tracy." Lucille rolled her eyes and pushed her chair away from the table, the grating of the chair against the hardwood floor was drowned out by Virgil's cries, "So, what's it going to be this time? Are you going to tell me curb my temper and send me to my room?"

She stood and stormed into the kitchen with Jeff right on her heels, his own anger now burning in the pit of his stomach.

"What the hell is your problem?" He barked.

Lucille turned to him and threw her hands in the air, "I'm sick of this! This house, the same routines, the boys! I just can't stand being stuck here day in and day out while you get to live your life!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I wake up. Get the boys ready and take Scott to school and then I do all the cleaning then I go pick Scott up. I make dinner, you come home, we eat and then we go to bed. It's the same everyday! I'm going insane!" She tugged at her hair, a habit she had when she was angry, which wasn't very often. This had obviously been something that had been building up slowly over time and now all of Lucille's frustration and anger was being released. "I want to see the world and do things, Jeff, I don't want to be the perfect little housewife anymore."

Jeff looked at her evenly, his mind whirling at a mile a minute trying to process exactly what his wife had just said. He ran a hand through his hair and pushed down the frustration he was feeling.

"Why didn't you say anything? Why did you have to wait until you felt this bad before you felt you could talk to me? I love you, Lucy, and I want you to be happy."

"I am happy." She told him, suddenly sounding exhausted. "I love you and I love the boys, I just want more from life than these same four walls."

He closed the distance between them and drew Lucy into a comforting hug; she was tense in his grasp for a few moments before she sunk into his arms, her head came to rest on his shoulder and she snaked her arms around his waist. He kissed the top of her head and then they just stood there, enjoying one another's presence.

"Mom? Dad?" A tiny voice asked from the doorway.

Scott, who was so usually full of energy and confidence, looked to have shrunk into himself and looked more timid than either Jeff or Lucy could ever remember seeing him. He stood in the doorway with impossibly wide eyes shining with tears.

The couple broke apart and Lucille moved to her eldest and enveloped him into a hug, "What's wrong, honey?"

"I don't like it when you fight, it scares me and the babies." He sounded close to tears. "Virgil won't stop crying and I tried my best to get him to stop but he just won't! And John wasn't any help either, Mom, he just sat there and played with his dinner!"

Lucy tried to hide her smile at Scott's rant, "It's not your job to look after your little brothers, Scott. That's what me and Daddy are here for."

Scott nodded and gave his mother an exasperated look as Virgil's cries increased and were more clearly heard in the kitchen, "Just make Virgil shut up."

Jeff laughed as he walked passed his wife and son and into the dining room, "I'll see what I can do, son."

The sight that met Jeff made his heart clench in fear.

Virgil was red in the face from crying and was banging his pudgy fists on the tray of the highchair, set away from the table so Virgil wouldn't be able to kick at it, and sending food flying with every hit, but it wasn't his youngest that concerned him. John, the quiet, little toddler who never did anything which made his parents' hearts quicken with fear, was stood precariously on the edge of the dining table. He held his arms out to the highchair which was just beyond his grasp and he held a spoon tightly in his left hand.

"John!" Jeff barked, striding quickly to the table but he was too late. His voice had startled the blonde and he lost his footing, as he landed his head made contact with the hardwood floor with a loud crack.

Jeff swore as he reached his fallen son, already what he needed to do had formed in his mind and he begun to work on autopilot as he called for his wife and checked his son over.

"John?" Jeff asked. "Can you hear me?"

There wasn't any blood, which was always a good sign, though John had appeared to be unconscious as he hadn't moved since his fall, but, as Jeff discovered as he rolled John onto his back, the toddler was awake. He stared up at his Dad with a puzzled look and tears in his eyes before brandishing the spoon in his Father's face.

"Virgil wants peas."

--

22nd August 2002

All Lucille wanted was for this day to be over. She was exhausted, her sleep the night before had been dogged with fear and apprehension, and this day had gone from bad to worse. Scott had refused to do anything she asked all day, throwing tantrums left, right and centre when Lucy wouldn't let him have his own way. John was having an off day and had become increasingly pale and withdrawn as the day progressed while Virgil had been at his fussiest and had made more than enough noise to make up for the quiet John. Jeff had called nearly two hours earlier saying that he wouldn't be home for dinner and it was then Lucy discovered they were all out of milk as well as a whole host of other important things.

And, to top it all off, her parent-in-laws would be arriving that evening to watch the boys while she and Jeff went on a much needed two week vacation that she still hadn't packed anything for.

Definitely a great day.

It had taken her an hour and a half to get the boys ready to go out to the local Wal-Mart, an all time record low due to the horrible moods they were in. She was beyond exasperated but had somehow managed to retain her calm, despite the tantrum Scott threw all the way to the Wal-Mart because Lucille wouldn't let him sit in the front seat next to her.

"Don't go running off." She yelled after her oldest as he raced into the Wal-Mart while she was still placing Virgil in the child's seat of the cart. She bit her lip in anger before managing to smile at Virgil and John, she pushed the cart with one hand and held John's small hand in the other.

"Let's see if we can find your big brother."

Virgil gave her a mutinous look before beginning to scream at the top of his lungs and wave his arms around manically. She ignored him, knowing that there was nothing wrong with him and that if she started coddling him every time he started to cry then he'd never stop, and she ignored the looks the others in the store were giving her.

Scott was, luckily, not hard to find. His attention had been caught by a bright display advertising a new toy just inside the doors and she thanked God for small favours.

"Can I get one, Mom?" He asked, a pleading look on his face. "Please? I promise I'll be good."

She shook her head, "You've been bad all day, Scott, you don't deserve it."

"But, Mom!" He protested. "I really, really want it and I promise I'll be good for the rest of the day!"

"I don't know..." Lucy trailed off, giving her oldest son a thoughtful look. "How about we make a deal, huh? If you're good while we're doing the groceries and you help me then we'll come back at the end and buy it, but, you're only allowed to play with it if you're good for Grandma and Grandpa and they say you can have it. Does that sound like a good deal to you?"

It was a few moments later before Scott finally nodded his assent.

"That deal goes for you two as well." Lucille told her other two sons but neither seemed to pay her any heed. Virgil was still screaming away and John had become as pale as ever and his breath was hitching in his throat.

"Oh, baby." She murmured as she felt his forehead. "We'll be as quick as possible and then get you home to bed, okay?"

John nodded, "Make Virgil quiet."

Lucille smiled at John before she tickled Virgil under the chin, "Are you going to shut up, huh? Poor Johnny isn't feeling too good and you're not being any help."

Virgil's screaming quietened and he took a lock of Lucy's hair in his fist before giving it a firm yank, "Momma."

"That's right, sweetheart." She stood to her full height and pried her hair from her newly one year old son's hand. "Now let's get this shopping done."

The baby was now babbling away at a mile a minute as he usually did and with that Lucy felt her own mood lighten with it. It made the quick dash around the store so much easier and now that Scott was cooperating as well Lucille was sure they would be out in record time.

But then, as things were want to do, it started to go wrong.

John started to cry.

Lucille grabbed her middle child around the waist as his knees buckled and held him to her chest just as he threw up all down her front.

She cursed inwardly but forced herself to smile around her worry, "Poor baby." She murmured, kissing the top of his head, "Let's go get cleaned up. Come on Scott, can you push the cart for me? That's a good boy."

They made their way to the toilets and Lucy disappeared inside with the still bawling John, giving Scott explicit orders to stay with the cart and Virgil.

She sat John on the counter and used paper towels to wipe up the vomit from both of their clothes. She was being as quick as she could, knowing that the best thing she could do was to get John home and to bed.

It was nearing ten minutes later and she was just finishing when Scott burst into the toilets, his eyes wide with fear.

"Virgil's gone!"

Lucy froze, not quite believing what she had just heard, "What do you mean Virgil's gone? You were supposed to be watching him, Scott."

"I know but you were taking forever and I had been good so I went and got that toy you promised that I could have if I was good. I have been good, haven't I?" He didn't look Lucille in the face and instead chose to look at his shoes. "But when I got back the cart was empty and I couldn't see Virgil anywhere."

Lucille had picked John up from the counter and rushed to the cart just outside the doors. Sure enough, there was no Virgil.

"Oh my God." She murmured. "Oh my God."

She felt her grip on John go weak and he slipped to the floor. She felt the blind panic rising in her stomach and she started to hyperventilate. Her son was missing. Someone had taken him. Her beautiful, sweet little boy was gone.

A shop assistant walked passed at that moment, she grabbed his arm in a death grip and all but screamed, "Someone has taken my baby!"

"Ma'am?" He gave her a puzzled look.

What had happened tumbled from her lips, faster than she had ever spoken before, and the shop assistant was in an instant barking out commands to his other nearby colleagues.

"Ma'am, I need you to tell me what your son looks like so that we can find him, okay?" He was trying his best to sound comforting but it meant nothing to Lucille, the fear was still gripping her so tightly all she could do was gasp for breath between her sobs.

She didn't notice when Scott wound his arms around her waist and leant his head on her hip and nor did she notice the tears of fear that made their way down his face.

"I'm sorry, Mommy." He whispered over and over again.

"Is this your son, Ma'am?" One of the workers had returned, having been gone for what seemed like hours for Lucille but was in reality only a few minutes. "I saw one of our regular customers with him; I don't think she meant any harm, Ma'am, she just picked him up without thinking, she's done it before..."

But Lucille wasn't listening, all she saw was Virgil. She took him in her arms, gave him a quick inspection, before she pulled him to her chest in a tight hug. She planted kisses on the top of his head before brushing his soft hair away from his forehead.

"Thank you." She all but whispered, her heart rate slowly began to return to normal and her fear left her. "Thank you so much."

--

1st June 2003

Lucille pulled away from Jeff's kiss and placed a trail of soft kisses along his collarbone before finally coming to a stop and resting her head against Jeff's heaving chest.

"I've been thinking." She said after a few moments silence between them.

"Oh yeah?" Jeff asked. "That's never good."

She stuck her tongue out at him before continuing, "As I said, I've been thinking. We're not getting any younger and Virgil is going to be two in August..."

"Just spit it out, Lucy."

"I think we should have another baby."

"Another?" Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think we've got enough?"

She shook her head, "I promised Scott four younger siblings."

"He probably doesn't even remember you saying that."

"But _I_ do."

"Even so-."

"Jeff." She said slowly. "Have you ever known me to break a promise?"

He shook his head.

"There's a good reason for that, you know, I've never broken one. When I say something, I mean it and you know that."

He nodded, "I do."

There was another short silence.

"You do know that it doesn't matter what you say, don't you? We're having another baby." Lucille said finally, she turned her head slightly and placed kisses all over Jeff's chest and her hands teased.

"I know." He gave her a grin, trailing a hand up her arm. "I suppose we should get working on it, huh?"

She sat up, concealing a grin of her own, "Actually, there's no need. Do you remember that day in April when you-?"

"I remember." He said, a slight blush rising on his cheeks.

"Baby Tracy number four is due in February." She told him, patting her stomach. "Doctor Lopez sends his congratulations."

She lay back down in bed with her back to her husband, "Good night, Jeff."

"Wha-?" He wore a dumbfounded expression on his face as he tried to process the new information.

She didn't reply, instead she grinned into the darkness of their bedroom.

--

Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N- Hey guys! How goes things this fine evening? Here is the next chapter and possibly the last one you're going to get for a few weeks as next week I'm in Germany (YAY!) and then the first couple of weeks back after half term will be focus on coursework time (BOO!). I know I moan about coursework in all of my A/N's but do you know hard it is to write 700+ words in a foreign language. Glah. I'll say nothing more on the topic.

Disclaimer- I own nothing apart from my mistakes. A virtual whatever-you-want for the person that notices a major mistake.

--

20th November 2003

"Big." Virgil said earnestly, patting his Mother's ever-expanding stomach.

Lucille brushed his dark brown hair from his forehead, "That's right, sweetheart. Your little brother or sister is in there."

She took his small hand in hers and pressed it to the area above her navel, "Do you feel the baby kicking?"

Virgil nodded quickly, a wide smile on his round face. He babbled excitedly at a mile a minute, making Lucy grin. His childish voice had yet to fail to brighten her mood.

She pulled Virgil up, so he was stood next to her on the couch, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You'll still be my baby boy, no matter what." She told him. "Even when you're all grown up and have kids of your own."

Virgil gave Lucy his version of a kiss then, which involved him pressing his open mouth to Lucille's cheek and drooling everywhere.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

She got a particularly hard kick from the baby then, she rubbed her swollen belly, "I haven't forgotten about you, trouble, don't worry about that."

She heard the front door opening and three sets of footsteps entering, the happy chatter of Scott indicated a good trip to the mall. She heard the rustle of their clothing as they took off their jackets.

"-And then I went up to the big kids and I got back the ball!"

"Wow, Scotty. You showed the big kids not to mess with you."

Virgil jumped down from the couch at the sound of his Father's voice and ran towards the entrance hall, squealing madly, "Daddy! Daddy!"

Lucille rolled her eyes and stood slowly and followed her son to the rest of her family, muttering under her breath about ruined moments between mother and son.

Jeff had met Virgil half-way and lifted him up into a tight hug, "Hey, short stuff. Have you been a good boy for Mommy?"

Virgil nodded and then proceeded to give an account of the last couple of hours, or at least Jeff thought he did. The boy spoke so quickly it was hard to distinguish one word from another. All Jeff could do was nod in the appropriate places.

The two older boys then filed into the room; Scott was chatting animatedly at John, who seemed far more interested in the noise the large plastic bag he held made when he scrunched it up in his grip.

Sadness shot through her. John, who had turned four just the month before, was still as quiet as ever and Lucy was worried that he wasn't mentally developing properly. He hardly talked or demanded attention like Scott or Virgil did, he was content to just sit and play by himself, and he had difficulties with his numbers and letters. Even Virgil knew more than his older brother. Lucille couldn't help but feel guilty, it was her carelessness that had caused the accident which forced her second son to be born so prematurely.

"Lucy!"

"Yeah?" She asked, breaking out of her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"We've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes." Jeff told her. "Scott even threatened to sing."

Lucille gasped in mock horror, "Oh no! Not Scott's singing!"

Scott grinned at her evilly and took a deep breath before starting a shrill rendition of 'Mary had a little lamb'.

She covered her ears with her hands. "I can't hear you," she sing-songed. "La la la."

It was a long running joke in the family that Scott couldn't sing.

"Oh hush, both of you." Jeff grinned. "Are you going to show Mommy your new toys? John, are you going to give Virgil his?" He set Virgil down and he toddled over to his blonde brother.

John rooted around in his plastic bag before presenting Virgil with a brightly coloured box.

"Ooo." Virgil cooed, taking the box and plonking himself down onto the floor. Scott sat down next to him and helped him open the box, together they slid out the child-sized keyboard that it held within. Virgil's eyes widened and he pressed a key, he clapped his hands delightedly at the musical note.

"What do you say, Virg?" Lucille said.

"Thank you!" The toddler said, not looking up from the keyboard.

Jeff wrapped his arm around her waist when he came to stand next to her, "I put the batteries in while we were in the car, I figured he wouldn't want to wait."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Good thinking batman."

"Look what I got, Mom!" Scott waved a box at his Mother.

"What is it, Scotty?" She asked him.

"It's a remote controlled aeroplane, silly." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Dad is going to teach me to fly it!"

"Wow, that's really cool!"

"Yup." Scott began to rip the box open, "Can we go fly it now, Dad? Can we, please?"

"After John has shown Mom what he's got."

Scott turned an impatient glare on his younger brother, "Hurry up, slowpoke."

John pulled his own present from the bag, "It's a book."

He stood in front of Lucille and held it up to her, letting her take it from him.

She raised an eyebrow at the choice, "The constellations? This book looks a bit too grown up for you, Johnny."

He shook his head and took it back from her before disappearing from the room.

"He didn't want anything else." Jeff told her. "Just that."

"Can we go play now?" Scott asked, pulling at his Dad's trousers. "The baby has shown Mom his book."

"Yeah, let's go."

Lucille smiled, "Have fun. I'll follow you out in a bit with the camera."

--

14th February 2004

"Ssh, Lucy. It's okay, the baby is going to be fine."

Lucille sobbed heavily into Jeff's chest and she had her arms wrapped around him so tightly he was finding it hard to breathe, but he knew she needed this.

His beautiful, loving wife was absolutely exhausted. She had gone into labour two weeks early, and after a brutal 36 hours she had given birth to their fourth son.

The little boy had been whisked away by a small team of doctors and nurses to be looked after and made better and all Jeff could do was comfort his wife and wait for someone to tell them what was happening, if their son would be okay.

He kissed the top of her head and tried shushing her once more, "Everything is going to be okay. If our track record is anything to go by, this little guy is going to be as stubborn as his Mommy. He's going to fight, Lucy. You know he will."

"Mr and Mrs Tracy?"

They both looked up at the midwife, the same one who had been present at, and helped with, the births of their three older children, and felt the tension ebb slightly at her bright smile.

"Is he okay?" Lucy asked, her voice shaking.

She moved closer to the bed and took Lucille's left hand in her own and patted Jeff on the arm, "Your son has left us all a bit puzzled; despite being a couple of weeks early and causing us so much worry over the past few hours, he appears to be fine. He's a bit smaller than he should be but he's still a healthy size and weight."

"How is that possible? I thought the scan showed..." He trailed off and rubbed at his eyes, tiredly, before repeating, "How is it possible?"

"We're just as baffled as you. " The midwife admitted. "But it appears that you have a perfectly healthy baby boy."

"When can I see him?" Lucille asked, a small smile threatening to break out.

"They're just doing a last few checks but he should be brought out to you in the next ten minutes or so." She gave Lucille's hand a firm squeeze and smiled once again at them both before leaving.

"Thank God for that." Lucille sighed, "But I-."

"Won't believe it until you see him yourself?" Jeff cut her off, a smile tugging at his lips.

She punched his arm softly, "I wasn't going to say that but it's true. I just want to hold our little boy, Jeff."

"I know."

"I can't believe it, I just can't. After all that...I was preparing myself for the worst." She leant her head against Jeff's side as he perched on the edge of the bed. "I feel like we're the luckiest people alive."

He planted a kiss on the top of her head and pulled her closer to him, "We are, Lucy. We had three amazing little boys that I thanked God for everyday; and now that our fourth baby has arrived safely, I just can't help but feel blessed. I love you, Lucy."

"I love you too, you softie." She turned her head and placed a chaste kiss on Jeff's cheek.

"You can't get enough of my sensitive side." He joked, sticking his tongue out at her. "Admit it."

"Don't flatter yourself. If you hadn't had a great body I would never have married you in the first place, the fact that you can actually string words together is an added bonus."

"Ouch." He pulled away slightly. "That hurt."

"It's the least I could do after the past 36 hours of hell your son put me through."

"My son?" He snorted. "That's typical, even a hint of trouble and he becomes my son." He shook his head in an exaggerated manner. "Need I remind you of the fact that you're the one who tricked me into-."

"Tricked you? I don't think so, you're the one that-."

"But it was your idea to have-!"

"No way!"

"Don't give me that, if I remember correctly-." Jeff was cut off by the door to Lucille's room opening.

The mid-wife entered, their son held safely in her arms, and headed directly for Lucy. She passed over the little boy and said, "Not as big as your last but an impressive weight to say he was early: 8lbs and 1oz. I think that if he had been born at full term he would have easily been 10lbs."

"Thank you, I-." She stopped abruptly. "This baby has red hair."

The mid-wife laughed, "I know what you're thinking and yes, he definitely is yours." She headed to the door. "I'll leave you to get acquainted, give me a call if you need anything." And with that she left.

Lucy turned to look at Jeff with a shock written all over her face, "Out of all the things I expected, red hair was not one of them."

"You're not complaining are you?" He picked up his camera from the cabinet next to the bed and took the first photograph of Mother and son together as she spoke.

"No." She smiled down at her slumbering son. "It just makes him extra special."

She gave him a quick kiss, "Hello, trouble."

--

3rd March 2004

As babies, all of Jeff's sons had fitted into one of two categories. They were either so quiet that it took something serious to make them cry or they never shut up. Gordon, as the newest arrival to the Tracy Clan, was definitely of the latter. Not quite to the scale of Virgil but louder than Scott, he guessed that Gordon fitted nicely in the middle.

Jeff was the one designated to get up with the baby during the night, and had been doing so with each son since Scott was nearly a month old, and it was a task he relished. It didn't matter how much they screamed and cried, Jeff loved the countless nights he had and was due to spend with his baby sons.

Gordon whimpered softly as he drank from the bottle, his face was screwed up from the effort and he couldn't have looked more adorable.

"I didn't realise you were so hungry, little man."

Gordon didn't respond, he just continued to suck on the bottle.

"I know I didn't sound too eager another baby when your Mommy told me about you but I'm so glad that you're here. I had almost forgotten how special it was to hold one of my sons in my arms like this." He removed the bottle when Gordon pulled away. "You had enough?"

The baby blinked up at him tiredly before drifting off to sleep, safe in his Father's arms.

"How about we go check on your brothers before I put you back to bed?" He whispered. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Scott's bedroom was the first port of call. The soon to be eight-year-old was fast asleep, spread eagle on the bed with his cover tangled around his legs. He mumbled something, too quiet for Jeff to hear.

"Scotty seems to be having a good night." Jeff whispered to the baby in his hold. "He was so excited to get another little brother; he was counting down the days until you were born, when you arrived early he couldn't believe his luck. He already thinks the world of you, Gordy."

Jeff grinned as Scott rolled over and mumbled something about cookies.

The two middle boys shared a bedroom; their beds were only a few metres apart and were central along the back wall, John's bed was the one on the left and Virgil had the right one.

As with Scott, both boys were sleeping, though Jeff could have sworn that Virgil had cracked open his eyes for a short second to identify the intruder to his bedroom.

Even though their personalities were nothing short of night and day, John and Virgil were so similar while they slept it was uncanny. Both slept on their left side with a hand next to their head on the pillow and the other held close to their chest. He knew they got this from himself, Lucille never spent more than five minutes in one position while sleeping and had, on numerous occasions, kicked or punched her unsuspecting husband.

"Virgil couldn't wait to be a big brother, he kept telling us he was going to be the baby's best brother and all the things you were going to do together. He's got a while longer to wait until he can play with you properly but I'm sure he won't mind. He's a big brother now and won't let anyone forget." He smiled as the memory of Virgil telling an old lady while grocery shopping all about his new role as big brother resurfaced. The poor woman hadn't been able to get him to leave her alone.

Jeff turned his eyes to his second eldest, "And John...He's pleased you're here too. Though, no one really knows what's going on inside his head. Maybe he'll open up to you one day, little man?"

He exited the bedroom and slipped back into the nursery. Jeff settled Gordon down quickly before returning to his own bed, very conscious of the meeting he had the next morning.

As he was just about to drift off he got a kick to the midriff that left him breathless. After much wheezing and rubbing of the painful area he murmured an "I love you too" before shuffling as far away as possible from his wife's side of the bed.

--

Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N- Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! And a special thanks to Gillian 101 who spurred me into writing and posting this next chapter! Your review realy did make my day, thank you. I have nothing else to say really, I have no excuse for being so crap with posting. I'm just crap really. :-D Ooo, guess what? I've had two offers from universities! Yay! That made me happy too :-D Good luck to anyone else who is applying to university this year!

Disclaimer-I own nothing

--

10th May 2004

Lucille loved Jeff more than anything, but sometimes, just sometimes, he could drive her to the point of insanity. She tugged at her hair angrily before re-trying Jeff's cell phone, hoping the third time would be the charm.

Tracy Industries had had a quiet first few years, ones that had left Jeff awake and asking Lucille if he was doing the right thing many a night, but, after the initial slow start, it had blossomed into a multi-national, billion dollar company that was still continuing to grow. And with the increase in business came the decrease in time that Jeff spent at home. She had tried to create a schedule for him to stick to, for the boys' sake, but more often than not the ex-astronaut managed to break his 6.30pm curfew.

Though, usually, he would phone ahead and tell her he wouldn't be making it home for dinner, he knew how important it was to keep the boys in a routine.

She let out an angry sigh as the cell rang through to the voicemail. She dropped the phone onto the dining table in disgust and pushed her chair back before standing and striding from the room.

Her sons were all in the living room, where she had left them, and she was relieved that there had been no major disasters between them while she had been busy in the other room. John and Virgil were playing together, two of Scott's old action men the instruments of their game, while their older brother was watching some cartoon or another on the TV. She moved to the Moses basket, checked that Gordon was still fast asleep, before going and sitting next to Scott on the couch.

"When is dinner going to be ready?" He asked her, not looking away from the TV.

Lucille sighed again, "I don't know, honey."

"I'm hungry." He looked at the watch strapped to his wrist, a present from his parent's for his recent eighth birthday, "And it's nearly a quarter past seven. Virgil won't shut up about how hungry he is and I know John is too because he told me."

"I'm hungry too." Lucy told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. She kissed the top of his head and smiled sadly when he wriggled from her grasp. After a moment of thinking, she asked, "How about we have a treat tonight, huh? Does pizza sound good to you?"

"Yeah!" Scott exclaimed, jumping up. "Can I have pepperoni on mine?"

"If you want to." She cocked her head in the direction of the Moses basket; having heard Gordon's breathing hitch slightly, she knew he was going to awake and crying in a matter of seconds. She wasn't wrong. She dragged herself from the couch, feeling tired and sluggish, and went to comfort her youngest son. "Why don't you go get me a menu, Scotty? It's the drawer next to the cutlery."

Scott raced off to do as he was told, ignoring the rule of not running in the house to get to his destination.

"Hey there, trouble." Lucille murmured, picking Gordon up and cuddling the nearly three-month-old to her chest. She knew he wasn't due a feed quite yet so she checked his diaper. "You're wet, mister."

She set up the mat in a clear space in the middle of the room and then proceeded to change the red-haired Tracy.

"That's gross." Scott said, wrinkling his nose. He thrust the menu at his mother before retreating to the safety of the couch, refusing to look at the changing process.

Virgil, having abandoning his game and older brother, was now at Lucille's side and tugging on her jumper, "What about me?"

"What about you, Virgil?" She asked, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as she finished up with Gordon. "What do you want?"

While Virgil had been pleased to be a big brother, he had also found it hard to share his Mom with the newest Tracy. The extra competition had made him clingier than before and he could be, more often than not, found at his Mother's side, taking interest in anything she did just to be close to her.

Lucille had realised Virgil's insecurities and had been careful to make sure she had at least 30 minutes each day alone with him, when Gordon was napping and the other boys were preoccupied with something else.

"I'm hungry." He said, leaning against his Mom and burying his head in her neck.

"I know, sweetheart. I'm just going to order some pizza, okay?"

She quickly glanced over the menu while asking Scott, "Can you get me the phone please, honey?"

"Okay, Mom." He replied, disappearing into the kitchen to get the cordless phone.

Gordon kicked his feet and gurgled happily up at his Mother and older brother, he had a hand in his mouth and drool trickled down his chin.

Lucille pulled a face at him and tickled his stomach, causing the red-head to let out an excited squeal.

"What about me?" Virgil whined again, wrapping his arms around Lucy's neck in a hug.

"Why don't you go play with John, huh? Until dinner gets here?" She tried to coax him, but he wasn't having any of it. She gave Scott a bright smile when he gave her the phone before returning to the couch, "Thanks, Scott."

She dialled the number quickly and ignored Virgil as he began to scream and cry.

She tried to hush him as the phone rang but the toddler wasn't having any of it; he began to angrily stomp his feet before breaking into an all out tantrum, throwing himself to the floor.

"Virgil." She hissed, "Be quiet."

"Hello, Hot Shot Pizza's. Can I take your order please?" The bored voice drawled on the other end.

"Yes, hi. I'd like to order a 10" cheese pizza and a 10" pepperoni one too." She said, hoping that Virgil's voice wasn't carrying to the other end.

Gordon, startled by his brother's screaming, started to cry as well. Lucy winced as the noise went straight through her.

"Is everything okay at your end, Ma'am?"

"Yes," She said, quickly. "Everything's fine."

She tried to end the phone conversation as soon as possible from that point. She could feel herself becoming more and more frustrated by the second, her head pounded painfully, not helped by her screaming children.

She picked Gordon up from the changing mat and tried to quiet him by rocking him in her arms while trying to quiet Virgil at the same time.

She heard the front door open and her husband enter the house, and, despite the crying of the two boys, she could hear Jeff humming happily to himself.

"Jefferson Tracy!" She shouted, finally snapping. Her temper, though very slow to provoke, was enormous. "Where the hell have you been?"

He entered the living room, a perplexed look on his face, "What's wrong? Why are the boys crying?"

She was fuming, she couldn't say anything for a moment, and tears sprang to her eyes, as was usual when she was this angry.

"You're late, you don't call and you come home expecting everything to be fine and dandy!" She marched to Jeff and placed the baby in his arms before turning and marching back to Virgil and picking him up. "Life's not like that, Jeff!"

Jeff didn't say anything, reckoning it was better if he didn't. He had never seen his wife so angry before, in all the time they had been together. He rocked the bawling red head in his arms and listened patiently as his wife continued to rant at him. It was nearly ten minutes later when she finally ran out of things to say and let herself pause for breath.

"Are you done?" He asked.

She glared at him for a moment, her face fixed into a steely expression, then her bottom lip wobbled and she burst into peels of laughter. Jeff watched her warily, not sure of how to take his wife's sudden mood change before he too started to laugh, though, rather nervously.

"I'm sorry." Lucille said, smiling sheepishly.

"Don't be." Jeff told her, walking to her and pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, mindful of the baby in his arms and the toddler in Lucy's. "It's me who should be sorry, I was the one who was late and didn't call."

Lucy readjusted Virgil in her arms, glad that he was back to his normal babbling self, and gave Jeff a thoughtful look, "You could make it up to us." The doorbell rang at that point. "You can pay for dinner."

--

11th August 2004

Lucy smiled as she rolled over in bed, enjoying the rare opportunity to lie in. It was a Wednesday and Jeff had somehow managed to wrangle the morning off of work, claiming that they could cope without him for a few hours.

Lucille couldn't complain, any chance of a lie was golden. She loved her sons more than anything but she looked forward to the days when they'd sleep in pass 6 o'clock in the morning.

She dozed off again, the pale sunlight creeping through the curtains was the last thing she saw before her eyes slipped shut.

She was awoken some time later by a tiny body slipping under the duvet and curling up next to her. Lucy wrapped an arm around her son's waist before pulling him closer to her and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

Without opening her eyes and still half asleep, she murmured a soft, "Good morning, Scotty."

The boy turned around so he was facing her chest and wiggled up the bed so that their noses were almost touching. He pressed one of his own kisses to the end of his mother's nose and leaned close to her, enjoying his mother's presence. It took only a few moments before his breath evened out and he was fast asleep.

Lucy smiled sleepily before dropping off once again.

She was awoken for the second time that morning by the visitor in her bed. His eyes were boring into her face, watching her with a startling intensity that she knew she had made a mistake earlier.

She opened her eyes and locked them with ones that were the same pale blue shade as her own. She gave him a soft smile and used her right hand to brush away a lock of mussed hair from his face.

"Hey, baby."

"Hello, Mommy."

John matched her smile and snuggled closer to her, burying his head in her neck.

Lucille's heart swelled with joy. She hadn't been this close to her second oldest son in such a long time and she wanted to relish this special moment. John never clamoured for her attention or cried or threw tantrums like the others did when things didn't go his way, he just quietly accepted things.

"You smell nice, Mommy."

She laughed, "I doubt that, baby, I haven't had a shower yet this morning."

"I haven't either." John told her, seriously. "Does that mean I smell?"

Lucille sniffed around him in an exaggerated manner and wrinkled her nose.

John gave her a hurt look and begun to wriggle from her grasp.

She tightened her hold on him and tried to keep him from escaping, "I'm sorry, Johnny! I didn't mean it, you don't smell really! I was just joking."

The little boy didn't seem to believe her and gave one final wriggle before fleeing from the bed and out of the room.

She sighed and sat up, running a hand through her slightly greasy hair. A glance at the alarm clock told her it was nearly half passed eight. She had an appointment at the Doctor's in a few hours, a check up to make sure that everything was going well. After all, she wasn't as young as she used to be , at the grand old age of 28 (she couldn't believe how quickly the years had gone by), and she was due another birthday before this next baby was due.

Her fifth pregnancy was going well, though she was being careful to slow down more, and at nearly four months she was already showing. She was excited for this next baby but sad at the same time, knowing that this would be her last.

She knew that Jeff wanted a daughter and she also admitted to herself that she found the idea of having a little girl appealing but she knew somehow in her heart that she was due another son.

She climbed out of bed and headed towards the en-suite bathroom. It was under the hot spray of the shower that she conceded that another beautiful, boisterous boy wouldn't be all that bad.

--

7th October 2004

Jeff was late. Again.

She had tried his cell phone three times and it had rung straight from the answer phone on each occasion. She toyed with the idea of phoning the office to see if he had set off for home yet but decided against it. She doubted that she would be able to get passed the secretary anyway.

She let out a short sigh and rubbed at her swollen belly. This baby was the most energetic of the lot and never seemed to spend a moment still. The constant kicks to her bladder kept her constantly rushing to the bathroom, something that Scott found hilarious.

She drained the pasta before sharing it out between the plates laid on the dining table and then served the Bolognese sauce. The garlic bread was already on the table, cut up and waiting to be eaten.

She stepped into the living room, "Dinner's ready, boys. Will you put Virgil's bib on for me and set him down at the table, Scott? I just need to get Gordon."

Scott scowled, "Why me?"

"Because, honey, your Father isn't home yet and I can't do everything at once." She smiled at him, patiently. Scott was going through a difficult patch at the moment. "Please, just for tonight? I promise that your Dad will be home tomorrow to do it."

Scott continued to scowl, "Where _is_ Dad?"

Lucille shrugged, "I don't know."

She picked up eight month old Gordon from his walker and returned to the Dining room. Virgil was sat in his booster seat, his bib on, and was already digging into his meal. John was just climbing into his chair next to his younger brother's, a proud smile on his face.

Scott entered the room behind her and proclaimed, "See, John can do it! I don't know why you always want me to do everything."

Lucy opened her mouth to argue with her eldest but thought better of it, she decided it wasn't worth the trouble it'd cause. She put Gordon in his high chair and placed his specially prepared meal on his tray. She took the seat next to him and started to feed the excitable baby.

"Calm down." She told him, letting out a short laugh as Gordon made a face and opened his mouth, his food dribbling down his face in a mess of saliva. "That's just gross."

"Stupid baby." Scott said, stabbing at his pasta with his fork. "Tell him to eat properly."

"I'm all growned up." Virgil boasted, his mouth full of food. "Not like Gordy, I use my fork."

"You are, sweetheart." Lucille nodded, reaching over and ruffling his hair. "You're a big boy now, like Scott and John."

Virgil grinned.

Gordon began to slap his hands against the tray of his high chair, demanding attention, and let out a small rush of babbled words. He reached to grab the food from his bowl but Lucy was able to move it from his grasp at the last second.

"I don't think so, mister."

Gordon let out an excited squeal as another fork full of baby food travelled towards his mouth. He ate it happily.

The meal didn't last much longer and soon the older boys disappeared back into the living room. Scott went to watch TV while Virgil played with some toys, John went in search of his school bag to look at the book he had gotten that day.

Lucille started to clean up Gordon, wiping away the meal that had managed to mask his cheeks, when the house phone started to ring.

"I'll just be a minute." She told Gordon before going and picking up the phone from the kitchen.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is that Mrs Lucille Tracy?" The voice on the other side asked, a pleasant voice that didn't hint at what was about to be said.

"Yes." She said, feeling uneasy. "Who is this please?"

"I'm calling from hospital, I'm afraid that your husband has been in an accident."

Lucille's heart clenched with fear.

--

A/N- A bit of a cliffhanger, ey? Review and tell me exactly what you think about my evilness :P


	9. Chapter 9

A/N- Chapter 9, already? I must be ill! You better appreciate it, though, I've ignore coursework for you guys (well...the coursework really didn't want to be done, it's evil). I'm sorry if this chapter is rubbish, I wrote it while watching Children in Need and was mildy distracted. Plus, I'm tired and rambling... All's good.

Disclaimer- I own nothing apart from my mistakes which are probably a plenty.

--

7th October 2004

7.47pm

How she had managed to get the boys organised, in the car, and to the hospital in less than three quarters of an hour, she'd never know. It was a miracle but she didn't dwell on it, her sole focus was her injured husband.

The phone call had been vague, not giving her enough information to know what to expect, and this uncertainty scared her more than anything.

"Why are we at the hospital?" Scott asked as they entered the huge, brick building. "Where's Dad?"

Lucille forced herself to smile even as Gordon squirmed wildly in her grasp and she had to hold Virgil's hand in a firm grip, he had a mischievous glint in his eye, one that Lucille didn't like the look of, and the diaper bag hung loosely from her shoulder. But, still, she smiled, "Daddy has been in an accident."

They reached the front desk as Scott asked, "Is he going to be okay?"

"We're looking for Jeff Tracy." She said to the lady at the desk. "He was admitted a couple of hours ago."

"Jeff Tracy?" She asked, typing into the computer.

"Yes." Lucille nodded quickly, she adjusted Gordon in her arms and shot Virgil a warning look.

"Is Dad going to be okay?" Scott repeated, he peered over the desk and shot the receptionist a scowl.

"He's in surgery at the moment. If you take a seat someone will come over and tell you more shortly."

"He's in surgery?" Lucille was dumbfounded.

The lady gave her a smile and repeated, "If you take a seat I'll make sure that someone comes over to tell you what's going on."

Lucille nodded and moved over to the waiting area, her three oldest sons in tow.

"Is Dad going to be okay?" Scott asked again.

"I don't know." She admitted, suddenly feeling exhausted.

She all but collapsed into the hard, plastic chair. Virgil climbed up into the chair on her left and Scott took the seat on her right. John hovered in front of her, uneasily, before sitting down at her feet.

"How long do we have to wait?" Scott questioned after less than a minute of silence between them.

"I don't know, honey."

"Why can't we see him now?"

"Because the doctors are making him better, we'd be in the way if we were there too."

"Oh." Scott seemed satisfied for the moment.

A nurse found them a few minutes later. She looked to be a kindly woman, a few years older than Lucille with long hair as red as Gordon's tied back into a ponytail and a bright smile.

"Mrs Tracy?" She asked, approaching the family. "I'm Nurse Wilson, I was on the team that treated your husband when he was admitted."

Lucille stood, "Is he okay?"

"He's in surgery at the moment. He suffered some internal bleeding during the crash which they're trying to fix as well as a couple of broken ribs and a slight concussion. He should be out of surgery in the next couple of hours- a Doctor will be able to give you more information then."

"Thank you." Lucille said, her head spinning. Her free hand going to her ever-growing bulge while still managing to keep a hold of the energetic Gordon, the unborn baby had given an almighty kick, as if trying to remind her that he was still here.

Nurse Wilson pulled a face at Gordon and the baby pulled one of his own in return before bursting into laughter.

She tickled him under the chin, "You're such a cutie."

He grabbed her finger, pulling it into his mouth and biting down hard. Nurse Wilson gave a small yelp of pain as she withdrew her finger in a flash and held the bleeding appendage to her chest. Gordon gave another laugh, clearly displaying his few tiny teeth.

"Oh my!" Lucille exclaimed, this act pulling her from her miserable thoughts. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. He's just got his third tooth through and-."

"It's okay." Nurse Wilson told her, eyeing Gordon, "It's not too deep, I don't think."

She gave Lucille another smile, more forced than it had been earlier, before leaving quickly.

"Gordon." Lucille chastised. "You can't take a bite at everything that goes near your mouth. One day you might bite something hard and break all your teeth!"

She returned to her other sons; pushing the fear and worry to the back of her mind, and swallowing the urge to burst into tears, and instead concentrated on her sons.

"Mommy!" Virgil snuggled against her side as she seated herself and begun to churn out words that now, at the age of 3 years and 2 months, were beginning to form properly. Though, at the moment he was giddy with tiredness, and his normally quite clear words were jumbled together in his haste to get them out of his mouth.

Lucille focused on his babble and was able to keep up with the flow of conversation of her second to youngest child, giving her two cents to the conversation any time that Virgil paused for breath.

From this point it took only a few minutes for Gordon to fall asleep in his mother's arms and Virgil tired himself out soon after and was soon out like a light, leaning against her side.

"I thought he was never going to be quiet." Scott said, crossing his arms. "Virge talks more than anyone I know."

Lucille nodded, "Your Dad once said he could talk for the whole of America."

Scott cracked a small smile before yawning.

"When can we go home?" He asked.

"I don't know."

John turned and looked up at his Mom with tired, blue eyes. He wrapped his arms around the bottom of Lucy's leg and rested his head on her knees.

"School was good today." He told her, seeming to sense her unease and need for conversation. "The teacher was teaching us lots."

"Well, duh." Murmured Scott, fighting back another yawn. "That's what teachers do."

"I can write my name." John carried on, undeterred.

"You can?" She asked.

"Yup and I can read too, can't I Scotty?"

"Only baby books."

"The teacher said that I'm getting good now. I'll be as good as you one day, Scotty, won't I?"

"I doubt it

Lucille smiled and ran a hand through his soft blonde locks, letting the chitchat of her two eldest sons wash over her. She heard the words but didn't listen for their meaning as she finally let herself think about her husband.

--

15th October 2004

"And then, and then it went boom!"

"It did?"

"Yup and then Bugs Bunny ran away!"

"And what about Daffy?"

Jeff smiled weakly as Virgil continued to ramble on about the episode of Looney Tunes he had watched that morning. His happy little voice couldn't help but raise Jeff's spirits, despite how genuinely rubbish he felt.

Lucille sat at his bedside, a faraway look in her eyes. She looked exhausted and her face seemed to be continually a grimace of pain. He was worried about her but she just waved it off with a soft smile. She was achy, she explained whenever he asked about her, and the baby wouldn't give her a moment's peace.

He knew how much she had had to do this past week and a day since the accident and how much she continued to do for him while he was still bed-ridden. He knew she had been in contact with his deputy at Tracy Industries and was keeping a close eye on it, making sure that no decision was made without her direct approval. She had also cared for their boys single-handedly until his parents had arrived the day before yesterday to give her a rest. And every spare minute she had had she had spent it at his bedside. She was truly amazing and he loved her with his whole heart.

"Are you listening, Daddy?"

"Of course I am, Virge."

"What did I just say?" The three year old fixed him with a blank stare.

Jeff knew who Virgil had learnt that from. He glanced at Lucille and she shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Ermm..." He trailed off.

Virgil shook his head sadly and patted his Dad on the arm, "I know you're poorly, Daddy, but try and keep up."

Lucille bit her lip in an effort to suppress her laughter but one look at Jeff's stunned face was enough to make her burst into a fit of giggles.

Virgil looked between his parents before he too started to laugh. He crawled from the chair he was stood on and onto his Father's bed, throwing himself onto his Dad and wrapping his arms around his neck and planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

Jeff winced but didn't say anything.

"I love you, Daddy." Virgil told him. "When can you come home?"

Jeff ruffled Virgil's chestnut hair, "I don't know, son. Soon, hopefully."

"I think it's time we let your brothers in, don't you?" Lucille asked, swiftly changing the topic.

Virgil pouted, "I don't want to go!"

"Sorry, sweetheart." She picked him up off of the bed and set him on the floor. "But you know what Scott's like."

Virgil stamped his feet but left the private room without further complaint.

Lucille lingered a while longer, a sad smile on her face.

"I'm going to be okay." He told her and it was true. The surgery had gone well, better than expected, and Jeff was slowly but surely recovering from his injuries. The estimation of another week or two in hospital and the promise of no lasting damage had left everyone relieved.

"I know." She said, rubbing her swollen belly. "But it doesn't stop me worrying."

"What will?"

"That's a stupid question, Jeff."

He feigned hurt, "What happened to being nice? I'm injured you know."

"It's your own stupid fault." She told him, giving him a glare. "And if you even think of pulling a stunt like that again, I promise you that all the doctors in this damn hospital won't be able to save you!"

She let out a huff of breath, "You nearly gave me a heart attack, Jeff Tracy."

He fluttered his eyelashes at her and gave her the famous Tracy smile, "You know you love me."

She mumbled something under her breath.

"I didn't quite catch that, Lucy."

"Oh." She said, the hint of a malicious smile pulling at her lips, "It's just that, well, some of the nurses were saying earlier how much they liked the balding look. Adds a touch of class."

His hand shot to his hair, "I'm not balding, I'm not even receding."

She snorted, somewhat indelicately, "Yeah right."

She took a long look at his hair, laughed again, before leaving the room.

--

28th October 2004

"Come on, John, get out of bed. We're already running late."

The blonde rolled over, sluggishly, and snuggled further into his blankets. He didn't give any indication of having heard his Grandma.

Ruth could feel herself becoming more and more aggravated and she forced herself to take a few calming breaths.

The morning and the night before had been completely hectic. Gordon had been up screaming all night and Ruth had stayed up with the ill baby trying to quiet him and soothe his crying while his exhausted mother had tried to get to sleep upstairs. Her husband, Kurt, had stayed up with the other boys who had found it hard to sleep with Gordon crying all night and all three of them seemed to be running slight fevers.

And, nearly an hour before, she had been left to cope by herself when Lucille and Kurt had set off to the hospital to pick Jeff up. He just had to undergo a few final checks before he could finally go home.

Ruth had been given the task of raising the older three from their beds, getting them dressed and breakfasted before Jeff got home. The night before she had worked with the boys to make a banner and that still needed to be put up, as well as starting on the washing and getting the dishes done and doing the vacuuming...

She took another deep breath, "I'm going to go get Virgil dressed and by the time I get back I want you out of bed, okay?"

She heard a mumble from under the covers.

"I didn't hear you." She said, the warning in her voice was clear.

"Okay, Grandma." Came the muffled response.

Ruth bustled to the door of Scott's bedroom, nodding in approval when she saw her eldest grandson nearly dressed.

"Can you set the table after that?" The tone in her voice offered no room for argument.

"Yes, Grandma." Scott grumbled.

She then went to the bathroom where she had left Virgil brushing his teeth, managing to get there just as he was finishing- this left no time for the artistic Tracy boy to create any more pictures with the toothpaste as he had done the morning before.

"Come here, Virgil."

"I brushed my teeth all by myself!" He told her, brandishing his toothbrush at her.

Despite her foul mood and the tiredness that clung to her like a second skin, she managed a smile at his exuberance, "Aren't you clever?"

He nodded and went to her, arms raised.

"You're getting a bit too big for carrying around, aren't you?" She asked but obliged anyway, ignoring the way her back cracked.

She took him downstairs and dressed him quickly in the clothes that Lucille had set out for him the night before.

"Isn't John up yet?" She asked upon entering the dining room.

Scott looked up from setting bowls on the table, "Not yet."

Ruth muttered under her breath and began on her journey up the stairs, once she got to the top she bellowed, "John Glen Tracy!"

Her temper flared at the lump still under the covers and she ripped them off of her only blonde grandchild, "John! I told you ten minutes ago to-!"

She stopped short at the sight of the little boy, shivering madly, his teeth chattering, and his hair plastered to his head with sweat. Apart from the two spots of pink on his cheeks, his skin held no colour.

"Mom?" He asked, holding his arms out.

She pulled him onto her lap and cuddled him to her chest, "Aww, honey, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were so sick."

John burst into tears and clung to her blouse. Ruth's forehead creased in worry at the heat she could feel radiating from the boy.

"It's okay, Johnny." She tried shushing him. "It's okay."

It took a few minutes for him to quiet down. All Ruth could do was run her hands through his damp hair and rub circles on his back, murmuring softly to him.

"Can I go back to sleep, Grandma?" John whispered.

"In a minute." She said, "Just let me go get you a glass of water, okay?"

He nodded and she set him back down on the bed, she pulled the covers up to his neck and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

Just as she reached the doorway she heard John speak, his voice thick with sleep.

"It's my birthday today, Grandma."

Ruth's eyes widened and she swore loudly, something had been nagging at her all morning and with those words it suddenly all made sense. She shook her head, how had they forgotten? With all that had gone on in the past couple of days, the importance of the date must have slipped their minds... She couldn't believe it.

"I know, John." She told him, hoping he hadn't caught her momentary outburst. "Your Mom has just gone to go get your presents now."

"Okay." He whispered.

She left the room, a steely glint in her eye. She was determined to make this the best birthday John had ever had.

--

A/N- Good? Bad? Alright? Please review, my sweets!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N- Oh my, is it chapter 10 already? Wow. How did that happen? I hope you enjoy this chapter and the lovely little cliffie at the end. Don't say I didn't warn you! And oh, I'v been meaning to put this in the A/N of the last few chapters, but, if there's anything you'd like to see (a certain scene between two brothers, or father or son or whatever) don't be afraid to ask. You never know, it might inspire me to write and you might get chapters more often :p

Disclaimer- I own nothing!

--

1st November 2004

It was weird, Lucille decided, having the house so quiet during the middle of the day when normally it would be full of the chatter and cries and laughter of her sons. The house felt huge and empty. A strange thing as over the past few weeks it had been full to bursting with Jeff's parents staying with them to help care for the boys while Jeff had been hospitalised. They were returning to Kansas the next day so had decided to take their grandsons on an outing, leaving, Lucille felt, the house devoid of life.

This quiet, it was definitely weird.

It was a good as an opportunity as she was going to get for some peace and quiet in the coming months. Her quickly growing sons never seemed to shut up, well, all apart from John, but he too was starting to talk more, and Baby Tracy number five was due at the end of February which would bring another mouth screaming for her attention. She admitted that it was hectic but she knew she wouldn't have it any other way. She loved her sons more than anything.

Scott was 8 going on 18; he never seemed to be happy with anything she or Jeff did and had something to complain about at any given point, he was headstrong, a tad bossy, but he always spoke up for what he believed in. He took after his father in that respect, and almost every other way too, he was a carbon copy of Jeff, the famous Tracy stubbornness was rife in her eldest son. At school he always stood up for anyone who was being bullied and wasn't scared to cross the path of the older kids, which had earned him a few black eyes, but, Lucille was proud to say, he always gave as good as he got- even if the other kid was close to being a foot taller. Her brave, moody and complex little boy, she loved her firstborn deeply.

John was still tiny for his age, Virgil wasn't too much shorter than his older brother, and seemed to be nothing but skin and bones but to Lucille he was still as beautiful as any of her other sons. The fact that he looked almost exactly like her had nothing to do with it, of course. He was quiet and shy and tended to avoid attention like the plague but he was finding his place in the family, slowly but surely. He was good to his brothers and let them get away with anything. When given a new toy or a treat it would undoubtedly end up in Virgil's pudgy, little hands within five minutes, something that drove Lucille mad, but her baby wouldn't complain. She loved her blonde son and her heart always melted when he looked up at her with his pale blue eyes.

Virgil was totally different to his older brother in almost every way, apart from they shared their mother's lips and nose, and would do almost anything for attention. He'd cry, scream, throw tantrums and shout just so that his Mommy would acknowledge him or what he was doing and it was difficult for Lucille to give him the time that he demanded with three other sons to look after. She managed, mostly. The majority of the time he was happy to talk at her and it was his bright, little voice that kept her going through bad days. He loved to listen and dance to music and Lucille had promised him that she would teach him all that she knew, which wasn't much, on the piano she had recently bought. He was the soundtrack to her life and Lucille couldn't imagine life without her little sweetheart in it.

Gordon didn't look anything like his mother or his father and all the convincing in the world hadn't been enough for Scott in the first few days after Gordon's birth. It was only when he threw his first screaming fit that Scott accepted him as his new little brother. Lucille had to admit that she too had been confused by her fourth son's red hair and soulful, brown eyes- she didn't know of anyone on her side of the family who looked like that and Jeff too had been at a loss. It had taken him until Gordon was nearly two months old before he pinned Gordon's likeness on his grandmother on his mother's side. After seeing an old photograph Lucille had had to agree. He was a good-natured baby, definitely mischievous, and always quick to laugh and smile. She couldn't wait to see him grow up and fully develop his own special personality.

She laid a hand on her swollen belly and smiled when it was greeted with a soft kick. She didn't know what to expect with her next child, all she knew was she was having a little boy, but that didn't stop her dreams being invaded every night by the image of a beautiful and healthy son who ran and laughed and played with his brothers. She found herself becoming excited and decided that the four months that were left of her pregnancy couldn't end soon enough.

"What are you pouting about?"

Lucille jumped slightly when Jeff spoke but regained her composure quickly, "Nothing, I was just thinking."

He moved from the doorway of the dining room and went and sat in the chair next to his wife, taking her hand in his own. On the table in front of them were stacks of photographs, a slightly dog-eared scrap book, a pot of glue and a variety of other craft items that Jeff wouldn't let himself touch for fear of destroying them.

"About the baby?" He asked, resting his spare hand on Lucy's bump.

"Yeah." She smiled, "How did you know?"

"Oh I don't know, the dreamy look on your face and the hand rubbing the bump might have given it away." He grinned.

"Have you thought about any names yet?" She asked.

He shook his head, "What's the point? You'll just shoot them down anyway, I'm better off letting you choose."

"What are you talking about, Jeff? I admit full responsibility for naming John but with the others it was a shared decision."

He snorted, "Yeah right. Tell me one name I chose."

Lucille thought for a moment before grinning sheepishly, "You liked Scott."

"I liked them all, didn't mean I had a hand in picking them." He pointed out.

"Yes, well." She cleared her throat. "I'm surprised that you haven't discovered the pattern yet."

"There's a pattern? What? Why didn't I know this?"

She tapped the end of her nose, knowingly, and he grumbled something under his breath.

"Think, Jeff."

"I am." He was silent for a few moments as he pretended to wrack his brains, trying to work out where his wife had chosen the names of their sons from. Finally, he admitted defeat. "I don't know."

"You're an idiot." She told him. "Try the Mercury Seven?"

"Oh yeah." He said and something in his expression told her he had known all along.

She narrowed her eyes at him but decided to let it pass, "Are you going to choose a name then?"

"Alan Shepard." He said, a large grin on his face.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Are you?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Don't start with me Jeff."

"Alan it is, then."

--

14th February 2005

"Happy birthday, dear Gordon, happy birthday to you!" The mix of off-key voices sounded terrible but the happy enthusiasm with which it was sung was enough to make it sound great.

"Blow out the candle, Gordy." Lucille said as she held the baby out to the cake. She mimicked blowing out the candle, hoping the red-head would catch on.

He just looked at her as if to say, 'You're crazy, Mom.'

Jeff snickered and Scott openly laughed.

"Don't look at me like that." She said. "You're supposed to blow out the candle. You're the one that's being silly, not me."

She held him out to the candle again and blew softly but Gordon didn't pay her any attention. Instead he reached forward and grabbed at it, the flame had been just too alluring, and it was only a quick puff of air from Lucy that saved the newly one year old from burning himself.

She shook her head in an exaggerated manner and taking Gordon's small hand in hers she pressed it to her lips and slopped kisses all over it, "You're trouble, Gordy."

"Can we have some cake now?" Virgil asked, eyeing up the homemade, fish-shaped cake as he had been doing since Lucy had made it yesterday.

"I don't see why not." Jeff said, getting ready to cut it. "Do you want a big piece?"

"Yes." He nodded his head, quickly.

"Yes, what?" Jeff asked, trying to hide his smile.

"Yes, please, Daddy!" Virgil said, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. He motioned with his arms, "I want a piece _this_ big!"

"Leave some cake for us, Virge." Scott said, he nudged his younger brother with his elbow. "I want a big piece too, Dad! Please!"

"And what about you, John? Do you want a big piece like your brothers?" Jeff asked his blonde son.

John shook his head quickly, "No."

"Okay, son, but don't complain when your brothers' get more than you."

"Yes, Daddy." The fiver year old said, obediently.

"Gordy wants a big piece, don't you, trouble?" Lucille made a face at the baby as she placed him in his highchair. The red-head immediately banged his fists on the tray and kicked his feet, a wide grin on his face.

"I somehow get the feeling that most of this is going to end up on the floor." Jeff murmured as cut the cake, he looked up at Gordon who let out an excited squeal before smiling mischievously, "And I don't like the look on your face, mister."

"Oh, leave him alone." Lucille gave him a grin of his own as she rubbed at her enormous belly. "It's his birthday."

Jeff eyed Gordon again, suspiciously, but said nothing more on the matter as he shared out the cake.

"Come on, sit down or you don't get any cake." Jeff barked, good naturedly, and his three oldest sons were soon seated in their usual chairs around the dining table.

Lucy tried to stifle a laugh at the serious looks on Scott and Virgil's faces as the cake was passed out, it distracted her from her task of trying to get the wiggling Gordon's bib back on. She managed to get it on just as Jeff set his cake on his tray. She shot Jeff a mock glare and he shrugged.

"Ooo." Virgil said as his piece was put in front of him. "That's huge!"

"You said you wanted a big piece, Virge." Jeff said. "You better eat it all."

"I will." Virgil said as he dug into it.

"You know_ I_ will, Dad." Scott said, proudly. "I _always_ eat everything that's on _my_ plate."

"I know, son." Jeff reached over and ruffled his hair.

Lucille's smile widened as she managed to capture the moment on camera. She then proceeded to snap pictures of her other sons as they tucked in. Well, John and Virgil did. Gordon had managed to get his cake everywhere but in his mouth, including his hair and the floor.

"You didn't have to prove him right, you know." She told him. "That just inflates his ego."

"What was that, dear?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

She smiled at him sweetly, "Nothing, sweetie."

"Somehow I don't believe you."

She waved her hand at him dismissively, "You're getting paranoid in your old age."

She pulled a face at John who crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her. She laughed and took another photo.

A piece of cake flew through the air and hit her on the side of the face. She turned on the culprit with raised eyebrows.

Baby Gordon let out a giggle and clapped his hands, looking as angelic as one could with while being coated with cake, and Jeff burst out laughing at look on Lucille's face.

She turned on him and he laughed louder, "Not a word."

--

12th March 2005

The baby screamed and screamed but Jeff didn't have the heart to attend to him. His precious wife, Lucille, had been rushed away from him and into surgery minutes after the birth of their youngest son.

Things weren't looking good and Jeff feared the worst. How could he not with everyone rushing around with dark expressions on their faces? But he prayed and begged to God to let him spare his wife from death. He couldn't lose her. Not now, not ever. He needed her more than anything, without her then his world would collapse down around him. He wasn't strong enough to live without her.

He moved to the plastic crib where his son lay and looked down at him, seeing but not taking in his small features, scrunched up in a scowl as he cried.

He didn't know just how long he stared at the baby, he was lost in his own morbid thoughts, but he was brought out of it by the silence he suddenly noticed. The baby wasn't crying, he was breathing, but not crying anymore. Just quiet.

He lifted his son into his arms and held him close and said as tears threatened to fall, "I'm sorry Alan, I'm so sorry."

The baby, barely a half hour old, begun his crying again and Jeff couldn't help but feel relieved. Noise was good. Noise kept away the silence and noise reminded him that he was needed.

"I love you, Alan, but I'm scared. I'm so scared and I don't know what to do."

He rocked the baby in his arms before again pulling him close to his chest. The crying calmed but didn't stop altogether. He was glad. So glad.

He paced around the small, private room. His footsteps loud in the almost quiet.

"You won't believe how scared I am." He told the baby, unable to control the words that tumbled from his mouth. "I'm just so scared. What if your Mom died? What would I do? I can't raise five boys by myself and you're only a baby, Alan, she hasn't even held you yet. She can't die. She won't. She needs to be with us, to look after us. If she wasn't here, oh God, how would I cope? I'm scared."

He didn't notice the tears that rolled down his cheeks, unchecked.

"I love her, Alan, more than anything. I swear I do." He began to sob. "I love her, Alan."

He put his son back in his cradle, his arms were too weak to support the weight of the newborn. 10lbs and 5ozs. Bigger than any of the other boys had been and just so heavy in his arms.

How had it come to this? Just the day before everything had been fine. They had both been optimistic about the birth and had been sharing jokes mere hours ago. The baby was two weeks late and the labour had been induced. It had been quick but difficult and the birth had caused excessive bleeding that they had been unable to stop. That's why she wasn't with them anymore, she was bleeding to death.

He couldn't get the sight of her being taken away out of his head. And, oh God, he was just so scared.

--

A/N- Am I evil? Review and tell me!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N- Here's chapter 11. Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I hope that I've managed to fulfill all requests from the last chapter and if you have anymore then don't be afraid to ask!

Discalimer- I own nothing

--

15th March 2005

The small, warm body that was pressed against his side distracted him from his depressing thoughts and anchored him to the here and now.

The past few days, since the day his youngest son had been born, had been full of panic and fear and how he had been able to function and to not break down and cry was something that eluded him. Not only that, he had managed to care for all five of his sons without incident until his parents had arrived and relieved him.

This had been his first chance to sit down and do nothing but think and get his head around the events of the last couple of days. He had hoped to be alone but was now thankful for the company of his young son.

So far John hadn't said a word and had just sat huddled against his father, seeming to seek comfort from being so close. Jeff had wrapped his arm around his son's shoulder and kissed the top of his head but he had avoided looking at his face. He just looked too much like Lucille and it hurt.

"Daddy." John all but whispered, glancing up at Jeff's face. "It's all going to be okay."

"Will it, John?" Jeff asked, still refusing to look at him and trying to keep the bitter edge out of his voice.

John nodded, "Mommy will wake up and Alan will stop crying and we'll all start being happy again. I promise."

Jeff's voice softened and his eyes became wet with tears, "You can't promise something like that, Johnny."

"I can, Daddy. I know everything will be okay soon."

He squeezed his small son to him then and raked large fingers through his soft blonde hair. The absolute belief with which the 5 year old spoke warmed his heart and he tried hard to stifle the sob that was caught in his throat. He had never felt such pride for any of his sons as he did for John in that moment.

"Smile, Daddy." The little boy said. "Mommy wouldn't like it if you were sad."

Jeff nodded and pulled John onto his knee, wrapping his arms around him in a bone-crushing hug.

John didn't struggle away from his father's grasp as he usually did but just let him hold him.

"You're right, Johnny, Mom wouldn't want us to be sad." He kissed the top of his head again. Just having someone this close eased the pain in his heart but he still couldn't bring himself to look at his beautiful and smart little boy.

John, who looked so frail and was so quiet, was a pillar of strength in disguise. His simple words and trusting, childish nature belied a wisdom that was beyond his years.

When had his little boy grown up so much? With such boisterous brothers John often found himself being sidelined unintentionally by his parents and Jeff admitted that he didn't divide his limited spare time equally between his sons- he usually went to the son that screamed the loudest. John never demanded his attention like the others and it was now evident how much Jeff had really missed out on.

The guilt, like that which had nearly overwhelmed Lucille when she realised that she had forgotten her blonde son's fifth birthday a few months before, now threatened him too. He further tightened his hold on John, without even realising what he was doing, and tears now openly rolled down his cheeks.

"You're hurting me, Daddy." John sounded close to crying.

But Jeff didn't hear him. He was lost in his thoughts of that day. He remembered the phone call that Lucille had received from his mother almost as if it were yesterday and he remembered the way she had bitten her lip and pulled at her hair. He had never seen her so angry with herself before.

"_I can't believe I forgot." She had said over and over. "How could I have forgotten__ my baby's birthday?"_

He had tried his best to comfort her even as they had rushed around the local Wal-Mart throwing both presents and party supplies into a cart. Gordon, still ill, had cried the whole time and Jeff had felt tired and stiff, his whole body had ached, and he couldn't bring himself to feel the same guilt as his beautiful wife for forgetting. He had blamed all the time spent in the hospital for his slip.

His mother and Lucille had managed to save the day and, despite all the boys being ill and in foul moods, it had been an excellent day and definitely one to remember. Lucy had spent hours sorting through the photos a few days after, a sad smile had been fixed on her face, and he had assured her that she wasn't a bad mother. She had nodded and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug.

He hadn't understood what she had been feeling all those days ago. Though, now he could honestly say he did.

"Daddy," John sobbed, pushing weakly at his father's arms. "You're hurting me."

Still, Jeff was lost in his own thoughts, though, now they were fixed on his wife. He remembered the last time he saw her; laid in the hospital bed, her skin as pale as the sheets that covered her, and attached to so many different machines. She had been so close to death and he had been helpless.

"Good Lord! Jeff!" His mother's loud voice was what finally brought him back to reality.

"What?" He asked, stupidly.

"Let him go!" She roared, her eyes wide.

Jeff suddenly realised his crushing grip on his son and loosened his arms immediately. John's sobs rang in his ears and it sickened him to know that he had caused his son pain.

The 5 year old quickly escaped from his father's lap and ran from the room. Ruth looked to follow him but decided against it, John could wait a few moments while she dealt with his father.

"Oh God." Jeff groaned, holding his head in his hands. "What have I done?"

Ruth pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, fixing her only child with a firm stare.

"I hurt him, Mom." He avoided her gaze. "I didn't mean to, but- I did. I-I can't do this."

"Oh hush." Ruth said. "You're being ridiculous, of course you can do this. She's going to get better and you know it."

"But-."

"Shut up, Jeff. I'm not having anymore of this defeatist talk, not now or ever." Her voice softened at the lost look on her son's face. "I know it's hard but your boys need you. Your father and I are doing all we can but it's not the same."

"I'm sorry." He wiped at his eyes. "I need her, Mom, and the boys need her. I don't know what we'd do if we lost her."

Ruth smiled softly, "I got a phone call from the hospital, that's why I came to find you."

Jeff looked up at her with hope shining clearly in his eyes, "Has she-?"

Ruth nodded, "Lucy's awake."

He jumped up from the couch and drew his mother into a tight hug, excited babble escaped his lips and he bounced on the ball of his feet.

She grinned at the sudden change in her son and gave him a soft push in the direction of the door when he let go of her, "Get yourself to the hospital, Jeff. She wants to see you."

He planted a kiss on her cheek and was almost at the door before he stopped, his smile slipping somewhat, "The boys? John?"

"I'll see to them. It's nearly bed time, anyhow."

"Thanks, Mom." And with that he left.

--

28th March 2005

"I'm fine, Jeff." Lucille flicked her hand at him, dismissively, a scowl on her face. "You're driving me insane."

He shrugged, not looking away from the road. He had a large smile on his face that no amount of scolding from his wife would lessen.

There was silence between the two for a few minutes before Lucy let out a harsh sigh, "What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, I don't know. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I'm finally taking you home." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Despite herself, she could feel her scowl softening, "Are the boys excited?"

"Of course they are, they haven't seen you for nearly two and a half weeks."

Because Lucille had been so ill, Jeff had refused to take his sons to see her in hospital and even when she had started getting better he hadn't let them visit their mother. A bug was making its way through the older three boys and Jeff didn't want to risk anything.

"I haven't been able to shut them up all morning."

Lucille grinned, "Let me guess, Virgil's been talking your ear off?"

"And then some." He shared her grin. "But the others are all excited too, they've missed you, Lucy."

"Even Scott?" She asked, remembering how moody the eight year old could be.

"Especially Scott." He told her. "He's been as bad as Virgil."

"And you? Have you missed me?" Lucy asked, fluttering her eyelashes at her husband.

Jeff seemed to deflate but he looked at her with a soft smile on his face, "More than you could ever know."

"Jeff…"

They had reached a red light, allowing Jeff to take Lucille's hands in his, "I've never been so scared in my life. When you were rushed away from me, after Alan was born, I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. I just-."

"It's okay, Jeff." She caressed his cheek with a soft hand. "I'm okay."

"I know." His sad smile brightened as the light went green. "And if you ever think of doing something like that again, I'll kill you myself. Okay?" He mimicked, his voice high.

She raised an eyebrow and fixed him with a disapproving look, "That wasn't supposed to be me, was it? Because that was terrible, Jeff. You've had weeks to practice."

Jeff shrugged for a second time, "The boys thought it was good."

"They did?"

"Yeah." They pulled into the driveway at that point. "But you should hear Scott's impression. He's got you down to a tee."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." She said.

He switched the engine off and undid their seatbelts, they shared another smile and then sat quietly for a few minutes.

Then, suddenly, Lucille threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with such unbridled passion that it surprised him.

"Lucy…" He moaned as her hands roamed over his back.

He moved his hands her waist and pulled her closer, completely losing himself in his wife's kiss.

And then it was over. Lucille was already out of the car before he had even had chance to think.

He scrabbled from the car and called to his wife as she reached the front door, "I'll get your bags, then."

"You do that." She replied before opening the door.

He grumbled under his breath as he retrieved the heavy bags from the trunk of the car. He shook his head at his wife's antics but was somehow not surprised. She loved to do that to him. She always said it was to keep him on his toes but he knew it was her way of showing that she was in control.

The sight that greeted him when he entered the house made his heart melt.

Lucille was balancing Gordon on one hip, his fingers already firmly entangled in her pale blonde hair, Virgil had his arms wrapped around Lucy's left leg and was already filling her in on everything she had missed while being away. The older two were also clamouring for her attention; Scott stood in front of her, trying to talk to her over the top of Virgil, and John was tugging on her right trouser leg.

Jeff's parents were stood at the entrance of the living room and Ruth held a bawling Alan in her arms. She was trying to quiet him but the noise coming from the others was stopping the baby from drifting back off to sleep.

Kurt stood with a wide grin on his face and a camera in his hand, snapping photos of his grandsons with their Mom.

"Boys." She said, grinning. "Take a second to breathe."

"But, Mommy!" Virgil protested, rubbing his head against Lucille's jeans and mussing his hair. "We haven't seen you for, for, for ten days!"

"It's been longer than that." Lucille tried to smooth his hair. "But it has been a long time."

"We missed you, Mom." Scott's words tumbled quickly from his mouth, "Loads and loads! And Virgil wouldn't-."

"You can tell me later." She said, reaching out and brushing his messy brown hair from his eyes. "You need a haircut."

"Dad said you'd say that." Scott told her.

"We'll take you tomorrow." She turned and gave Gordon to Jeff, after detangling his hands from her hair and planting a kiss on his cheek. Jeff accepted the one year old into his arms after quickly putting Lucy's bags down.

"Don't do that, baby." Lucille turned to John. "You'll pull my jeans down."

She tickled him under his chin, "Don't scowl at me like that. You don't want to see my knickers, do you?"

John quickly shook him head, "No, Mommy."

"Good boy."

She then walked to Ruth and looked down at the baby in her arms.

"Hello, angel." She took him into her arms and planted a kiss on his forehead. "Look at you, Alan." She kissed him again and he stopped crying. "You're beautiful."

--

3rd April 2005

A smile crept onto Jeff's still sleepy face as he looked down at his crying son. He picked him up, quickly, the baby immediately quietened, and he made the journey downstairs.

"I was just getting up, you know." He whispered to the baby as he readied his milk. "Just when you started crying, I swear."

Alan looked up at him with a look on his face that Jeff's sleep addled mind read as unbelieving.

"I promise you, Alan. I was just getting up." He smoothed down the baby's fuzzy blonde hair. "You're the one that was early, anyway, so don't start blaming any of this on me."

He expertly finished off preparing the milk before starting to feed his youngest son.

The baby drank from the bottle quickly and Jeff shook his head, disapprovingly, "You'll make yourself sick."

Alan ignored him and continued to chug down the milk.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

It didn't take long for him to finish off the bottle. Jeff burped him and was relieved that the little blonde wasn't sick all over him.

They made the return journey back up the stairs. Jeff decided against putting Alan straight back into his crib, he seemed to be too wide awake to settle down straight away and he didn't want to risk him crying and waking up the rest of the family.

"Let's go see your brothers, huh?" He asked the baby in his arms.

Alan stuck a hand in his mouth.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jeff murmured.

Scott was fast asleep, his arms and legs spread out and his quilt kicked to the floor.

Jeff grinned, it was so typical of Scott. He had only tucked the boy in a couple of hours ago, yet the bed spread was already a mess.

In his sleep Scott rubbed his head against his pillow and turned, mumbling something about school. He then rubbed his head against the pillow once again.

"No wonder his hair is always a mess in the morning." Jeff whispered to Alan who ignored him.

Jeff carefully pulled the quilt back onto the bed and covered his eldest son. He ran his fingers through his son's brown hair in an attempt to neaten it but to no avail.

"Can't say I didn't try."

He gave one last look at Scott before moving onto the next bedroom which John and Virgil shared.

As he opened the door he heard the quiet whisper of John and the small pattering of footsteps across the floor of the bedroom. They pretended to sleep even though it was obvious to Jeff that they were still awake, their tightly clenched eyes and Virgil's barely repressed laughter were testament to this.

"I know you're awake." He said, quietly.

John opened his eyes and Virgil burst into a fit of giggles.

"Daddy!" Virgil exclaimed. "Allie woke us up and then we couldn't go back to sleep so we started playing!"

Jeff sat down on the edge of John's bed and the blonde shied away from him. He still hadn't forgiven him for the incident a few weeks ago where Jeff had nearly crushed him. The bruises were still fading even if Jeff's guilt over the episode wasn't.

Virgil, however, had no qualms about going and joining his Dad on the bed. He stood on it and, to keep his balance, he leaned against Jeff.

"Hello Allie." Virgil whispered, tenderly stroking the baby's hair. "You're noisy."

"He's nothing compared to how you were at his age." Jeff remembered, fondly. "Whenever you cried you woke the whole house up."

"Really?" Virgil asked, his eyes wide.

"You sure did." Jeff said, only exaggerating a little bit.

"I'm quiet now, aren't I?" He asked, still playing with Alan's hair.

"I wouldn't say that, Virge." Jeff looked at John then, who looked back at him blankly. "You're the one that's quiet, aren't you, John?"

"A little bit." John whispered before letting out a yawn.

"I think its bedtime now." Jeff said. "Don't you?"

"But I'm not tired." Virgil protested even as he yawned.

"Go to bed." Jeff ordered

Virgil did as he was told.

"I'll be back in a minute to tuck you in." Jeff told them. "I'm just going to put Alan back in his cot."

"'Kay." Virgil mumbled.

Alan drifted off quickly once Jeff had laid him down and Gordon, who shared the bedroom with him, was still dead to the world when Jeff checked him. The rise and fall of his chest indicated he was fast asleep and the flickering of his eyes under closed lids told him that Gordon was dreaming.

'Probably about bath time,' Jeff thought. 'I've never known anyone to like a bath as much as him.'

Gordon smiled and kicked his feet and Jeff knew he was right.

"Sweet dreams, little one." He whispered, brushing his red hair from his face.

--

A/N- Good chapter? No? Am I really evil? *cough* Of course not. Well, not for this chapter anyway :P


	12. Chapter 12

A/N- I'm sorry about your wait, guys! I truly am but I couldn't motivate myself to write for some reason. I had to force this chapter out so I apologise if its rubbish. Good news is, though, its a little longer than usual. I hope you enjoy it. Oh, and thanks to all the wonderful people that reviewed! You're my favourite people!

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

--

11th May 2005

The last couple of months had been hectic; what with the new baby, Lucille's near death experience and the new contract that Jeff had signed that had suddenly made him a millionaire. Not to mention the unexpected fame that had come with it, the extremely rich astronaut-turned-businessman was an interesting piece of news for the somewhat sleepy but large town they lived in Florida. Lucille hadn't minded that people suddenly started talking to her while doing the grocery shopping because that's all that people had done. They hadn't tried to pry into her personal life, just asked a few questions and they were generally more helpful than before. They had respected her family's privacy for the most part and she hadn't at any time felt threatened by the family's new fame. That had been until she had collected that morning's post and caught a glimpse of the front page of the newspaper.

Lucille scanned the page in front of her with wide eyes and a hand over her mouth in shock. The front page of the daily local paper was littered with pictures of Jeff, herself and her sons; all had been taken unknowingly doing everyday things, one picture showed Lucille's dropping the older two sons off at school, and it sickened her to think that somebody had followed them around, and had taken pictures of her little boys.

"Lucy?" Jeff stood uncertainly in the doorway, adjusting his tie. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him and Jeff could see the horrified look on her face, "What's happened?" He asked, striding over to her and wrapping his strong arms around her.

She didn't allow herself to be comforted by the hug but instead stood ramrod straight with her eyes fixed on the newspaper.

Jeff followed her line of sight and his mouth fell open, "What the-."

"Someone followed us." She whispered. "They followed us and they watched our family, Jeff, and I didn't even notice a thing."

She rubbed a hand over her face, tiredly, before all but collapsing into Jeff's firm hug, "The whole town reads this paper." She murmured. "Who knows what sick people there are reading the paper right now?" She shuddered and wrapped his arms around Jeff's midriff. "Looking at the pictures of our sons."

They heard a shout come from upstairs followed by the thudding footsteps of one of their sons which clearly indicated that an argument had been lost. They paid it no mind as they tried to comprehend the consequences which the paper would have on their lives.

It didn't take long for Jeff to pull away and head straight for the phone, hitting the numbers with such ferocity that Lucy was sure that he was going to break the phone.

"Who are you phoning?" She asked, her pale blue eyes locked with her husband's furious ones.

"The damn newspaper." He growled. "I can't believe this."

"If you're going to shout, don't do it in front of the boys. They'll be down for breakfast soon." She said, picking up the newspaper and folding it so she couldn't see the photos of her family.

Jeff nodded, tersely, and disappeared from the room. She heard a door slamming and guessed he had gone to his study.

She didn't have very long to dwell on the newspaper as she heard Gordon begin to cry from upstairs, he was joined seconds later by Alan and she forced herself into action.

As she climbed the stairs she called to her oldest three sons, "You all better have brushed your teeth and washed your faces!"

She heard a mumbled reply from Scott as she reached the landing while Virgil and John poked their heads out of the bathroom door, each with toothbrush in hand and tooth paste smeared around their faces. Lucille smiled at how cute they looked and ruffled their hair as she walked past, "Good boys."

"We know." Virgil stuck his tongue out at her.

She rolled her eyes and disappeared into the nursery but the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach remained.

"Ssh." She picked Gordon up from his crib and then moved to Alan's and placed a comforting hand on his chest. "Mommy's here."

Gordon quietened and all his attention was soon focused on his mother's face, one hand reaching out and grabbing at her nose. He let out an excited squeal of, "Mama!"

"Morning, Gordy." She moved her head to the side, trying to move her face out of her inquisitive son's grasp, but it was to no avail. Lucy's movement just seemed to make him all the more determined to keep a hold of her nose and he let out another excited squeal. "You're in a good mood this morning."

Alan let out an angry scream at being ignored and Lucille raked a hand through his soft blonde hair, "But you're not, Allie. What's your problem, huh?"

"He's always got a problem." Scott spoke from the doorway, fully dressed and his customary scowl fixed on his face.

"He's just a baby." Lucy reminded him, giving Scott a smile and pushing away the memory of seeing the same scowl plastered across the newspaper. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because I said so." She told him. "Now go make sure your brothers are getting dressed."

"I'm not their keeper." Scott stuck out his bottom lip, defiantly, causing Lucy to give him a warning look. "Why doesn't Dad do it?"

"Dad's busy." Lucille lifted Alan up into her spare arm and cradled him against her chest while Gordon squirmed in her other arm. "I'm not in the mood for your attitude today, okay, Scott? Just go make sure your brothers are getting ready, we're already running late and we haven't had breakfast yet."

"But-!" Scott broke off when he heard his father clear his throat behind him.

"Do as your mother says." Jeff said in a voice that left no room for argument, though, Scott didn't move. Jeff found himself losing his patience, he barked, "Now!"

Scott gave his father a long glare before grudgingly leaving the room, grumbling under his breath.

"What's that, Scott?" Jeff asked.

"Nothing." His oldest son replied and it wasn't long before he was heard shouting commands at his younger brothers.

Jeff moved to his wife and took the wriggling Gordon from her, ignoring the harsh look she gave him.

"You know I don't like you talking to him like that." She said as they moved downstairs.

"You're his mother, he should learn to talk to you with respect." Jeff turned his face away from Gordon's exploring hands.

"He's your son," She reminded him as they reached the kitchen. "Not one of your damn recruits."

"Don't start, Lucy." He pulled various cereal boxes from the cupboards as he spoke.

She rolled her eyes and retrieved bowls and spoons, "Did you talk to the newspaper?"

"They won't be putting pictures of our sons in the paper again." He told her, firmly, as they moved into the dining room.

"How can you be sure?" She asked as she laid the bowls out, adjusting Alan in her grasp slightly.

"Oh, believe me." Jeff caught her eye, "I'm sure."

--

22nd June 2005

Virgil wasn't a stupid child, his blue eyes were always shining inquisitively and questions were forever pouring from his mouth at a mile a minute, and though he was still young, his fourth birthday was less than two months away, he could tell that something was wrong.

His mother had laid Alan in his Moses basket as soon as they had gotten home from Scott and John's school and put Gordon in his walker before putting a DVD on for Virgil, she had then disappeared from the room for what seemed to Virgil like forever. She was back now though, her eyes red and her face blank, she tugged absently at a lock of her pale blonde hair.

Virgil slipped from the couch and went to stand in front of his mother who had curled herself up into the lone armchair.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" He asked her, his small hand rubbing her knee. "Why are you sad?"

His Mommy didn't answer but instead seemed to look straight through him and it scared him. Virgil hadn't seen her like this before.

"Mommy?" Virgil tried again. "What's wrong?"

He crawled up onto the chair and seated himself precariously on the armrest as he couldn't get onto his Mommy's lap because she had drawn her legs to her chest. From this vantage point he was able to reach forward and stroke her face, softly.

"Mommy?"

"There's nothing wrong." She whispered shakily, finally looking at him.

Virgil raised his eyebrow and gave her a look that showed he clearly didn't believe her, "You're sad, Mommy."

She wiped quickly at her eyes, "I am, sweetheart, but it's okay."

"Where are Scotty and John?" He asked, his eyes wide. "Why weren't they at school?"

"Go watch your DVD, Virgil." She told him and he know it would be unwise to push her.

He clambered down from the chair and went and sat in front of the TV again. It didn't take long for him to be sucked into the cartoon and was soon singing along to all the songs. He was so involved that he didn't even notice his Dad come home, though, his raised voice sure did the trick.

"Are you sure they didn't just wander off?"

"I couldn't find them and, and no one had seen them..."

"Did you phone the police?"

"No, no- I didn't even think-."

"Jesus Christ, Lucy! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Virgil gawked openly at his parents, shocked and scared. He looked over at Gordon who had been playing quietly in his walker and could tell that the little red head was close to bursting into tears. Virgil moved quickly to his younger brother's side and tried to distract him by pulling funny faces at him but it didn't work for long- his parent's voices just kept getting louder and louder.

"Don't get angry at me!"

"The police need to know! They could have been working on this!"

"I know!" She shrieked before bursting into tears. "I know! But, oh God, Jeff! I'm scared!"

Alan was crying now, obviously having been woken from his slumber, but his wails went unnoticed by the two adults who now stood together in each other's arms in the middle of the room. His Mommy was sobbing into his Daddy's chest and his Daddy was talking quickly into his cell phone.

Virgil tickled Gordon under the chin, eliciting a small giggle from him, and tried not to pay attention to his parents. He didn't like seeing his Mommy cry like that.

"They're on their way." Jeff said as he cuddled his shaking wife to his chest, having put his phone in his jacket pocket. "Ssh, Lucy, they're coming. The police will sort everything out."

He hid his own overwhelming panic with a calm exterior, the anger from only a few minutes ago had seeped away with every second as the situation had fully sunk in.

Someone had kidnapped his eldest two sons. They had taken them from school for some purpose unknown and it made him feel sick as a million different scenarios rushed through his head. He wanted nothing more than to get out there and look for them, hunt down the twisted person who had taken them, and do something other than stand around doing nothing. Jeff Tracy was a man of action, that much was true, but he was also a husband and a father. He knew that was needed at home by his wife and remaining children.

He let Lucille cry, knowing that she needed to just let it all out, but after a few minutes he spoke to her softly, "Come on, Lucy. The police are going to be here soon, why don't you go put the kettle on while I sort the boys out, huh?"

He kissed the top of her head and she nodded, moving silently away into the kitchen. He then went to the Moses basket in the corner of the room and lifted his youngest son into his arms, holding him tight.

"Hello, Allie." He cooed, rocking the baby in his arms. He found that by focusing all his attention on the red-faced baby his mind didn't have chance to think of his missing sons. "I'm sorry for waking you."

Virgil wrapped his arms around Jeff's legs at that point, causing him to look down and lock eyes with his third child's deep blue eyes.

"I'm scared." He whispered, his eyes tearing up. "I don't like it when you and Mommy fight."

"I know, I'm sorry, Virge." He gently ruffled the chestnut hair. "We're scared, too."

"When are Scott and John coming home?"

"I don't know, son." Jeff admitted and he felt, for the first time since Lucy had phoned him nearly three quarters of an hour ago, truly terrified and out of control. "I don't know."

--

25th December 2005

"Oh wow! I really wanted one of these!" Virgil exclaimed loudly as he tore the wrapping paper from his present, he then stopped and gave his mother a puzzled look. "What is it?"

Lucille laughed, loudly, training the video camera in her hands on her four year old son, "It's a new keyboard, sweetheart."

Virgil pointed to the picture on the front of the long, slim box, "Wow! A new keyboard!"

"Look at Gordon." Jeff said from his position on the floor, dressed in pyjama bottoms and a dressing gown, the 9 month old Alan sat on his lap playing with a stuffed toy with a wide grin on his face. "That's just typical, you spend a small fortune on a present and he's more interested in the box."

The video camera swung to the red-haired Tracy who was attempting to crawl into the box that Scott's main present had come in. Lucy grinned even wider, "It's not even his box."

"That's gratitude for you."

"Gordy, what are you doing?" Lucille asked as the toddler gave up on his attempt and decided to chew on the box instead.

Gordon looked up at her with the cheeky smile he was famous for, "Playin'."

"Go see your Daddy, he's got more presents for you to open." Lucy told him and her did as he was told, standing and toddling over to his father, purposely running into his father's side and bouncing off of him. Lucille rolled her eyes at him, "Troublemaker."

Gordon stuck his tongue out at her before beginning to open up another present.

Lucille turned the video camera onto her two eldest sons who were both ripping the paper off of their presents. Well, Scott was. John was taking a more civilised approach to it and was taking his time in admiring each gift before moving on to the next.

Lucille smiled fondly at her two sons but she couldn't shake off the memory of the incident a couple of months ago when they had been stolen from her. The absolute fear and panic that had overwhelmed her that day was still fresh in her mind and she had to push away the tendrils that threatened her once again.

They had been kidnapped and held for ransom by the crazed ex-husband of one of the school teachers who had threatened to kill her if she had not complied with his every demand. The article in the newspaper a couple of months before had planted the idea in his head and inspired his greed.

It hadn't taken the police long to track down the man down and the boys had been returned to their parents that same night but every minute without her sons seemed to last a lifetime for Lucille, not quite able to comprehend exactly what was happening. Even now as she thought about it, it sounded crazy and far-fetched. But it had happened and left Lucille unable to sleep at night. If anything had happened to her sons, she didn't know what she would have done.

Both boys had been shaken, John more so than Scott, but apart from that there had been little other evidence of their kidnapping but a few bruises on the boys' arms, it had, however, made Lucille's blood boil. How dare someone hurt her sons! It had taken all of her willpower not to seriously injure the man who had inflicted pain on her sons.

John had barely left his mother's side after that and for the first few nights after the incident he had slept with his parents which caused jealousy from Virgil who had of course insisted that he should be able to sleep in his parents' bed too. Lucille hadn't been able to turn him or any of the others down and her bed had been full of her children that first night. Only John had insisted upon sleeping with her for the nights after that.

She had grown close to her second son in the months that had followed and had been pleased that he allowed her to cuddle and kiss and tease him like she did the others. She loved being so close to her baby and had always made sure that she had time for him as he still didn't demand the attention that the others did.

It had been hard to find time for any of her sons in the month leading up to this one. Lucille and Jeff had decided that it was impossible to stay in the town in Florida where their family home had been, not after what had happened, so a move had been necessary.

Jeff had been thinking about moving his company's headquarters to New York City for a long time and when he suggested that they find a small town in New York State Lucille had readily agreed.

It had been difficult but worth it. They had bought a beautiful home on the outskirts of a tiny town with which Lucy and the boys had fallen in love with straight away.

It was there were they now celebrated Christmas, safe with a fresh start.

"Have you finished opening your presents?" She asked, fanning the room with the camera, making sure to catch each of her sons on tape. "It snowed again last night."

"Can we go out and play?" Scott asked, "I want to make another snowman!"

Lucille grinned, "I don't see why not. What do you think?"

"I think its a great idea." He said, standing carefully and adjusting Alan in his arms. "It's our first white Christmas after all, we might as well enjoy it before snow loses its fun."

"What are you talking about, Dad?" Scott raised an eyebrow at his father. "Snow's always going to be fun."

"And it'll be better when Gordy and Allie are bigger so we can play together properly." John grinned, shyly.

Scott nodded, vigorously, with a mischievous smirk on his face, "Extra target practice."

Jeff laughed and Lucille rolled her eyes.

She now understood why Scott had asked for so many younger brothers all those years ago.

--

A/N- What do you think? I hope its okay, I feel a bit nervous about this one for some reason. Please review and tell me what you think! Also, if there's anything you especially want to see in the upcoming chapters, a bonding moment between mother and son for example, then don't hesistate to ask! Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N- Hello guys! Chapter 13 here! Loads of fluffiness in this chapter, I'm pleased to report. I hop you all like it. I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone that reviewed: jendarra, black4minister, err... who am i? and especially Little Miss Bump! Your reviews are always so lovely and I hope that you all like this chapter and that all requests are fulfilled :-D

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

--

9th July 2006

Gordon squealed, breathlessly, "Licked me!"

He stamped his feet, excitedly, and reached out again to stroke the soft, golden coloured fur of the puppy in front of him. His other brothers were also crowed around the puppy, patting and stroking the excited Golden Retriever.

"That means he likes you, Gordy." Scott grinned at his younger brother while tickling the puppy under his chin. "Don't you?"

The puppy licked at Scott's hand, eliciting a laugh from the oldest Tracy brother, "He likes me too!"

"Do you think he likes me?" Virgil asked, nudging Scott out of the way so he had better access to the puppy's head. He felt at the puppy's ears, "They're so long and floppy! I wish my ears were like that!"

"You'd look silly." John told him, perfectly content with stroking the dog's back.

"I wouldn't!" Virgil protested, outraged. "I'd look good! Wouldn't I, Scott?"

"Sure you would." Scott shared a grin with John before turning and looking at the youngest Tracy brother who had been up to this point quiet. "Are you okay, Allie? Do you like the puppy?"

Alan shook his head and took a step back from the dog, "No."

"He won't hurt you." Scott told him, holding his arms out to Alan and the 15 month old toddled into them, letting Scott pull him into a loose hug. Scott held out his hand to the puppy who sniffed at it before licking it again, "See, Allie, he won't hurt you."

The puppy stood and moved closer to Scott and Alan, sniffing at the toddler and nuzzling at his hand.

Gordon reached out again and patted the puppy on the top of his head, "See, Allie? Nice."

Scott sat down on the grass and pulled Alan to sit on his lap; the toddler didn't resist his brother's actions, he was scared and so found it comfortable to be so close to his older brother. Scott always made Alan feel safe, just like Mommy or Daddy did.

"He's a good doggy." Virgil tried to convince his youngest brother, not liking that he was scared. "He likes it when you stroke him."

John moved to stand next Scott and gave Alan an encouraging smile, "He's real nice, Allie." The blonde took one of Alan's small hands in his own and stroked the puppy's fur with it. The dog's tail began to wag crazily and he nudged Alan's hand with his head.

Alan let out a surprised laugh before reaching out and patting the puppy again with perhaps a bit more exuberance than needed but the puppy didn't seem to mind as his licked at Alan's hand.

"He likes you!" Virgil grinned, shoving his hand in the puppy's face. The puppy licked him too and Virgil let out a loud laugh, "It feels funny!"

Gordon rubbed his head against Scott's shoulder in imitation of the puppy and barked.

"Are you a doggy, too, Gordy?" Virgil asked.

Gordon barked again and nodded his head, vigorously.

Scott grinned, reached out and patted Gordon on the head, "Good dog."

Lucille grinned as she watched her sons interact in the garden from her position on the large porch. She had initially been against getting a pet but the combination of both Jeff and the boys' moaning and pleading had finally broken her down.

She had to now agree with her husband, getting a dog had been a good idea. Even if she was the one that was going to end up caring for it and cleaning up after it, just to see all the boys playing together nicely for a change, it was worth it. Not that she'd ever admit that to her husband.

She took a couple of pictures of the boys and the puppy playing together in the bright sunshine and let out a soft sigh. Life was just so perfect at the moment.

She didn't turn as she heard the soft creak of the floorboards behind her and didn't start with surprise when strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist and a kiss was planted on the top of her head.

"I told you it was a good idea." Jeff murmured.

"No you didn't." She said, just as quietly. "You were totally against it, it took months of convincing before you finally gave in."

She turned and stuck out her tongue at him. He grinned at her and then pulled her into a long kiss which they only broke away from when the urge to breathe became overwhelming.

"That was nice." She said, tuning into his warm embrace and laying her head against his chest so she could hear his heart beating, wildly.

"Just nice?" He asked and she could hear the grin in his voice.

"Yeah." She teased, lightly. "Not as good as it used to be but that's expected, I suppose."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

She looked up at him, her eyes twinkling with mirth, "You know what I'm getting at, Jeff. You're old, past your prime."

"I'm only 35!"

"I think it's about time I swapped you in for a newer model." She laid her head against Jeff's chest once again and wrapped her arms around him so that he couldn't escape. One of her hands squeezed at him bum, "Not as firm as it used to be," she said, morosely.

"Hey, that's not very nice." He told her. "I don't complain about your bum."

"That's because there's nothing to complain about." Her words belied the sleepy tone in her voice. "I'm perfect."

Jeff smiled, remembering meeting Lucille for the first time. Her willowy figure had been stick thin and the envy of her friends and was in Jeff's mind just perfect. But now, 12 years and five children later, he still thought Lucille was as beautiful as she had ever been. She had put on weight which clung to her curves in the most appealing manner and Jeff just loved it. She had talked about dieting and losing the weight but Jeff had argued against it, he loved her the way she was and didn't want her to change.

"You're right." He whispered in her ear, making her shudder. "You're breathtaking."

Their lips met once again.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. More than anything."

--

4th September 2006

"Come on, Virgil." Lucy coaxed. "It's not that bad, I promise."

"I don't wanna go to school." Virgil sulked, crossing his arms across his chest and looking up at his mother sullenly. "I won't like it."

"How do you know?" Lucille asked, adjusting Alan on her hip and keeping a close eye on Gordon who was playing in the sandbox just inside the gate to the school's grounds, moved closer to her middle child and ruffled his hair. "Scott and John go to school here and they like it."

They were stood at the gates of one of the two school buildings in their town, this one catered for children from Kindergarten age until the end of Middle School. The High School was a five minute walk further up the road and could be clearly seen from most points of the lower school's grounds. It was a large building, old with peeling paint but it looked cheery and a place of fun. Both Scott and John liked it and all the teachers that Lucille had talked to seemed to be trustworthy and competent. There was no reason, really, for Virgil to be refusing to go but Lucille understood why he. School, with all of its new people, was a very scary place, indeed. She was surprised there hadn't been tears yet.

Scott had disappeared into the school grounds upon arriving and Lucille hadn't seen him since. She realised that it was the first day after summer and Scott would probably want to catch up with all of his friends but she had expected him to at least say goodbye.

John, on the other hand, had stayed with her and watched as she argued with Virgil. His blue eyes had been fixed on his younger brother the entire time, full of sympathy.

"Please, sweetheart, just go into the playground." Lucille pleaded. "I'm not going to leave yet and you never know, you might find somebody to play with."

She had realised that they were blocking the entrance to the school but while no one else seemed to mind, having gone through the same situation with their own children, Lucille was beginning to get slightly frustrated.

"Please, Virgil, sweetheart. Just move, all these other boys and girls want to go to school." Lucille adjusted Alan on her hip once again and glanced in Gordon's direction just to make sure he was still where he was two minutes ago. "Please."

"No." Virgil scowled and shook his head. "I don't want to go to school. I want to stay at home with you and Sparky and Gordy and Allie."

A smile tugged at Lucy's lips then, remembering the Scott had said something very similar on his first day of school, but she managed to keep it from her face. She needed to be firm with her vocal son.

"Come on, Virge, you can come and play with me." John held out his hand to his little brother then and gave him a bright smile. "There are some swings and a slide we can play on."

"Is there a climbing frame?" Virgil asked, his face still set in a scowl but it had softened somewhat.

John nodded, "It's really, really big. I've never gotten to the top before but Scott has."

"I'll get to the top, I'm better at climbing than you." Virgil said, taking John's hand in his own and letting himself be led into the playground. "Aren't I, Johnny?"

Lucille didn't hear John's reply as they disappeared into the school yard but she knew that her quiet and kind son would have said something to appease his younger brother. She let out a soft sigh as she adjusted Alan once again on her hip and walked through the gate and to the sandbox where Gordon had been only the minute before.

Only, the red-head was nowhere to be seen.

"Gordon?" Lucille called, her eyes looking around, wildly, and her heart in her mouth. "Gordon?"

She couldn't see him anywhere. She tried to stop herself from panicking but she couldn't help herself and her breaths soon came in short gasps. She clutched Alan closer to her and sensing her panic began to cry.

"Excuse me?" She felt someone tap her on her shoulder and she turned to face them. "Is this your son?"

And there was Gordon, a bright smile on his face, holding the hand of the kindly looking woman who had just spoke.

"I saw him make a run for it while you weren't looking." She explained, a soft smile on her face. "He's crafty, I'll give him that."

"He does this every time, I swear, I take my eyes off of him for one minute and he makes a dash for it." She smiled at the woman before fixing Gordon with a stern stare as he came to stand next to her, "What have I told you about running off like that? You scared Mommy to death."

Lucille looked back up at the woman and gave her a grateful smile, "Thank you so much."

"It's no problem." The woman smiled, wildly. "When my son was his age he was exactly the same. I didn't have a single grey hair until he started walking, now I spend half of my life dyeing it to cover them all up. "

Lucille laughed, "I know what you mean."

"I'm Helena." She said, holding out her hand to Lucille who shook it.

"Lucille."

"You're new around here, aren't you?" Helena asked.

"We've been here a while, since last November but we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves so you probably won't have seen me around much." She smiled.

Helena laughed, "Same here, I can't stand these small towns for gossip and everyone knowing everyone else's business but my husband refuses to move."

"Have you always lived here?" Lucy asked, quickly grabbing Gordon before he could take off again.

"Unfortunately." Helena smiled, ruefully. "I mean, its a good town to grow up in but I want more from life. Do you get what I mean?"

Lucille nodded, "Yeah."

Gordon struggled against his mother's grasp of his arm, obviously fed up with the adult conversation and Alan, too, was beginning to bore and was wriggling in Lucy's arms.

"Sorry." Helena grinned, sheepishly, noticing the boys' boredom. "I'm talking your ear off, these guys probably want to go home and play."

Lucille laughed, "Don't worry about it, staying still for longer than two minutes is too much for them."

Helena smiled, "I'll see to you later, Lucille."

"It was nice talking to you."

Lucille set Alan down on the floor and took his hand in her own and began the slow walk home. Once they reached the gates she grinned down at her sons, "Did you see that, boys? Mommy made a new friend."

--

14th October 2006

"You know, I think getting Sparky was one of the best ideas I've ever had."

"Don't you mean the best idea _I've_ ever had?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow, but decided to drop it, knowing he'd never win _that_ particular argument. "How do you mean?"

"I've never seen Scott smile so much." Lucille told him, turning to give him a soft smile before returning her attention to the stove. "And he's really stepped up to the responsibility of looking after him, I don't have to remind him to feed him or take him for a walk or anything. He's really grown up."

"I've noticed it too." Jeff agreed, moving to stand behind her and placing a kiss on the side of her neck, underneath her right ear. "I don't think I've seen a scowl from him in months."

"I guess we can't call him 'Scott the Scowler' anymore." Lucille's smile widened but she ignored Jeff's proximity as she continued to stir the contents in the pan. "I don't know, he's like a totally different kid."

"I like the new Scott and I think the other boys like him too, the younger two think the world of him." Jeff wrapped his arms around his wife's waist then and laid his head on her shoulder.

They stood together in silence for a long while before Lucy let out a long sigh.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked her, nuzzling at her neck.

"Our babies are growing up." She murmured, sadly. "Soon Gordy and Allie are going to be starting school and then Scott'll be at high school and then college and then-."

"Lucy." Jeff cut her off. "Scott is only 10."

Lucille grinned, sheepishly, "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

"Just a little." Jeff let out a soft chuckle. "But you're a Mom, all Moms are a bit crazy."

"Crazy?" She asked.

"You know what I mean," he shrugged.

"Is your Mom crazy?"

"One of the craziest." He told her, earnestly. "When I told her I was joining the Air Force she refused to talk to me for two months and then, the night before I was supposed to leave, she cornered me in the kitchen with a ladle and gave me a huge, long speech about being stupid and not thinking about how she'd feel if something happened to me and a load of other stuff that I forget before bursting into tears and hugging me so hard I couldn't breathe. I swear she cracked a couple of ribs."

Lucy laughed, "I like your Mom."

"I know you do." Jeff sniffed over Lucille's shoulder at the food. "What are you making? It smells beautiful."

"Helena gave me a recipe yesterday for her mother's pasta sauce." She told him. "She and the kids are coming over for dinner."

"What? Again?" He groaned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, its just that I was looking forward to a Saturday alone with my family."

"Yeah, right." She moved out of his grasp and to the fridge. "You don't like her."

"I do." Jeff protested. "It's just-."

"Just what?" Lucille asked, yanking the door of the fridge open while fixing Jeff with a steely stare. "You don't like the fact that I have a friend?"

"No, its not that, I swear. I'm happy for you."

"Then what is it?" She demanded.

"Her kids are monsters."

Lucille fixed him with a long, hard look before her bottom lip began to wobble, "Monsters?"

"They run around screaming and crying and making a mess and- well, they're just horrible, Lucy. And I swear they bring out the worst in our boys. Just last week that little minx-."

"Dana."

"-Persuaded Scott to climb to the top of the tree in the yard and then left him up there when he couldn't get down."

"She's just a kid."

"He was stuck up there for an hour."

"He was okay in the end."

Jeff shook his head, "She's evil."

Lucille couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing, "You're impossible."

He stuck his tongue out at her, "You wouldn't have me any other way."

They met halfway between the fridge and the stove and engaged in a short but passionate kiss. When they broke apart Lucille shook her head at him, "You're going to make me burn dinner, you bad man."

"What if I told you that I was going to take you and the boys to England? Would that make it up to you?"

"Are you joking?" Lucille asked, her eyebrows almost disappearing into her hairline and her mouth open.

"I'm deadly serious." Jeff grinned. "We're setting up some offices up in London after Christmas so I need to go over there. I thought I'd take you and the boys with me, I know you've always wanted to go."

Lucille let out a small squeal before taking a running jump at her shocked husband who barely had time to think before he had his arms full of her.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! I can't believe it!"

He laughed and twirled her about, not caring that they were acting like kids again.

"Mom? Dad?"

Jeff and Lucille came to a swift stop, their eyes were wide like they had been caught doing something they shouldn't have.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked, Sparky at his side.

Lucille moved quickly to the stove, picking up the wooden spoon she stirred the contents of the pan, "Nothing, your Dad just gave me some good news."

"O-kay..." Scott looked to his Father. "Do you want to go play catch, Dad?"

Jeff looked at Lucille and she nodded, he then turned back to his son, "Sure, son. Have you got a ball?"

Scott nodded, "The football's outside."

They headed out into the backyard together, a comfortable silence between them only broken by the soft panting of Sparky, the still-growing Golden Retriever.

"Are you okay, son? You're a bit quiet today." Jeff asked as he gently threw the football at his oldest son.

"I'm fine, just been thinking." He threw the ball back with my force than he had received it.

"About what?" Jeff noted the puzzled look on his son's face.

"Well, there's these kids at school and they're really horrible, Dad."

"Have they said or done anything to you, Scott?"

"No." Scott drew out the word and refused to meet his Father's eyes.

"But?"

"They're mean to Johnny, they hit him and say horrible things to him."

Jeff felt worry for his second son stab at him and guilt for not noticing what was happening to his quiet child, "Why?"

Scott shrugged, absently stroking Sparky's golden fur as he waited for his Dad to throw the ball back, "He doesn't say anything or try to stop them or anything. But, Dad, it just makes me so angry. I try and stop them when I see something happening but its hard to help John when he won't tell me what's happening." Scott let out a long suffering sigh, sounding older than his 10 years, "I just don't know what to do sometimes Dad."

"Have you told the teachers?" Jeff asked.

Scott nodded, "They don't believe me 'cause they haven't seen them doing anything to John."

"But you're looking out for your brother?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah. But-."

"You can't do anything more than that, Scott. He has to be able to stand up for himself."

"But he's my little brother, Dad, I just can't leave him to get bullied."

"You're not, Scott. You're helping him out when you can, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'm scared. What if I'm letting him down?"

"Scott, all of your brothers adore you. You could never let any of them down. Trust me."

Scott smiled, "I do, Dad."

--

A/N- What do you think? I know, how exciting! The Tracys are going to England! Woooop! Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter and any requests as usual!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N- Welcome readers! Here be the longest chapter I've ever written! I thoroughly hope that you enjoy it, but if you're left confused by anything please don't be afraid to say but I promise you now I will be answering most questions in the next chapter :-D I would like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers jendarra, truegold-dragonstar, black4minister, RVfan, Little Miss Bump (you, lovely, lovely person, you) and err... who am I? Thanks guys! err... who am I? I wish very much that I could respond to your reviews and say a great big thank you! Your reviews are wonderful! Anyway, read on, my lovelies!

Disclaimer- I own nothing.

--

3rd February 2007

Lucille was ready to tear her hair out and burst into tears by the time they reached the hotel in the centre of London.

The boys, each and every one of them, had driven her insane since the family had set foot inside the airport all the way back in New York just over 13 hours ago. Scott had argued about leaving Sparky behind, John had been unusually difficult, Virgil had cried, Gordon had tried to escape from his parents at every possible opportunity and Alan had clung to Jeff as if his life depended on it, throwing a tantrum if Jeff paid attention to anyone that wasn't him. And all that had been before they had even got on the plane.

The plane journey, Lucy didn't even want to think about it. She had never been so shown up by her children as she had then as they screamed and cried and fought their way to England. The looks the other passengers had given them... The 8 hour flight had seemed to last a life time.

They were all in foul moods as none of them had gotten any sleep and on the taxi ride from the airport to their hotel the youngest three had done nothing but cry. Lucille's mood had only worsened when they found, upon reaching the hotel, there was no one to help them with their numerous bags. She had to juggle carrying the exhausted Alan and as many of their bags as she could while keeping an eye on the older three who pulled their suitcases behind them, dejectedly. Jeff held Gordon and somehow managed to carry the majority of their luggage at the same time.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?" The young woman behind the main desk asked, in a soft, clipped tone.

"My name is Jeff Tracy, I have a suite booked."

"Mr Tracy..." She typed quickly into the computer in front of her. "Ah, yes. The Sapphire Suite, if you take the lift up to the fifth floor and its the second door on your right." She gave Jeff the card key. "I hope you have a pleasant stay."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

They turned to the elevator just as Virgil started to cry and wobble slightly on his feet.

"Virgil, sweetheart, we're going to be in our room in a few minutes." Lucille told him, trying to be patient with him, knowing how exhausted the five year old was sure to be.

Scott nudged his middle brother towards the elevator and took his bag from him so Virgil only had to concentrate on himself, "Come on, Virge."

Lucy shot her eldest son a grateful smile and he gave her one of his own, though tired.

Virgil's cries quietened and he followed his family into the elevator, sniffing softly.

"Come on guys, squeeze in." Jeff instructed as they all crammed into the elevator, that, although reasonably sized, wasn't quite big enough for a family of seven and all their luggage.

"The fifth floor." Lucille reminded her husband once they were all safely in.

He shot her an annoyed glance, "I know, Lucy."

She bit back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue, instead deciding to pull a face at him that clearly showed how aggravated she was.

"Don't pull faces, Mommy, what if the wind changes?" John asked, his voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Oh, hush." She snapped as Jeff chuckled.

Jeff opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the elevator doors opening, they stepped out and struggled to their room, just down the hall from where the elevator had dropped them off.

"Hurry up." Lucy said as she adjusted the now asleep Alan in her grasp.

"I'm going as fast as I can, dear." Jeff gave her a forced smile before swiping the card and pushing the door open with his foot.

The main room was huge and richly decorated in various shades of blue. The two large, plush couches faced a decent-sized television set and there was a dining table with six chairs as well as a small kitchenette off to the side of the room. Four different doors led from the room, all of them left slightly ajar.

"Come on, leave your bags here." Jeff told his sons as he put the bags he was carrying down. "How about we find your beds so you can get some sleep, huh?"

Two of the three rooms held king-sized beds, another a set of twin beds and the last one a bathroom that held a bath, shower, washbasin and toilet. One of the rooms with the king-sized had an en-suite bathroom and Jeff designated that one as his and Lucy's room.

"I thought you said they'd have their own beds?" Lucille asked, rolling her eyes.

"I think the couches are sofa beds." Jeff said, uncertainly.

Lucy let out a harsh sigh, "It doesn't matter. Gordon and Alan get the twin room and the others are in the other room."

"If you're sure." Jeff shrugged, taking Alan from Lucille's arms.

"It's just for now." She told him as she ushered the older three into their room. "Come on, take your shoes off. It's naptime."

She helped Virgil take off his trainers before lifting him onto the high bed; he was asleep before his head hit the pillow, his mouth slightly open and his breathing quiet, Lucille then proceeded to help John who was struggling with his laces.

"I don't think I need a nap." Scott said, even as he yawned.

"Right." She smiled softly as she lifted John onto the bed. "Just get into bed, Scott."

Scott grumbled but did as he was told, kicking his shoes off before climbing up onto the bed on the other side of Virgil so that the youngest of the three present brothers was in the middle. Lucille pulled the sheets up around them and planted a kiss on each of their foreheads.

"Sleep tight, babies."

"Mom..." Scott groaned but he was smiling and John blinked up at her, drowsily.

"Go to sleep." She told him, standing at the entrance to the room she watched as both Scott and John eventually succumbed to sleep.

When she went into the main room Jeff was searching through one of the suitcases.

"What are you looking for?" She asked, moving to stand behind him.

"The monitors." He told her, turning to her and giving her a tired grin, "Got to make sure that we're up before the troublesome twosome, who knows what kind of mischief they'd get into?"

"I don't even want to think about it." She matched his smile. "They're in the other suitcase, the one with the car on the tag."

"Okay." He moved to the other suitcase. "Why don't you go to bed? I'll just set this up and be with you in a minute."

"Thanks." She yawned.

The bed was so comfortable and soft and warm that Lucille was asleep within seconds but she was soon awake when Jeff slipped into the bed bedside her.

"Are they still asleep?" She murmured.

"They'll probably be out for the next few hours."

"Good." She wrapped her arm around Jeff's waist and pulled herself closer to him. "I'm so tired."

"Go to sleep then." Jeff covered Lucille's hands with his own larger ones.

"Mmm." She agreed, letting her eyes fall shut. There was quiet for a moment before she whispered, "We're in England, Jeff. I can't believe it."

He smiled before repeating his earlier words, "Go to sleep, Lucy."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

--

5th February 2007

"Where are we going?" Virgil asked as they walked through the busy streets of London.

"To see the Queen." Lucille grinned down at Virgil who just looked back at her, puzzled.

"Really?" He asked.

Lucy nodded, "Would I lie to you?"

"No." Virgil shook his head. "Is she nice?"

"The Queen? She's a lovely, old lady."

"Is she like Grandma?" Virgil asked. "Because Grandma's scary sometimes..."

Lucy laughed and took her hand off the stroller to ruffle Virgil's chestnut hair, "Grandma's not scary."

"She is." Virgil argued and both Scott and John nodded in agreement. "She shouts and cleans and doesn't like Sparky."

"She makes lovely apple pie, though." Scott said, earnestly.

Lucille laughed again and shook her head.

"Where's Dad?" Virgil asked, not happy with any quiet between the family.

"He had to go and do some work." She told them, "So I thought we'd go and see the Queen and do some exploring."

"We did some exploring yesterday and all that was was shopping." Scott complained. "We're not doing any more shopping, are we?"

"No." Lucille said, crossing her fingers while still pushing the stroller.

"You're cheating, Mom." John pointed out, from his position next to her.

She winked at him and he grinned. Her grin soon faded into a soft smile as thought about her blonde son who, at the age of seven, was a good inch shorter than his next younger brother, Virgil, and seemed to be made of nothing more than skin and bones, despite how much he ate. Her smile became sad as she thought of the conversation she had had with John's school teacher a few days ago.

"_I don't understand." Lucille had said, avoiding the teacher's gaze and instead choosing to look at her five young sons who played together in the sandbox. _

"_I've noted that John is developing quite a bit slower than his peers, both physically and mentally. He hasn't quite grasped the same concepts as the other children in his class have and it has affected his relationship with them significantly. You're aware that John doesn't have many friends, aren't you? Not his own age anyway." _

"_He's very quiet." Lucy had defended him. "And shy. He's not like his brothers." _

"_No." The teacher had agreed. "But its still obvious that John isn't quite at the same level as the other children. He doesn't like to speak in front of the other children and his reading ability is far behind the other children's-."_

"_He's not stupid." Lucille had cut her off. _

"_I wasn't saying that, Mrs Tracy. I personally believe that John is a very intelligent little boy but that doesn't disguise the fact that he's having problems. I also have reason to believe that John may be dyslexic."_

"_Dyslexic?" _

"_Of course we'll have to run some tests but from looking at his work and past experience I'm pretty sure that the tests will confirm this." The teacher, Lucille guessed her to be in her early fifties, had placed a reassuring hand on Lucille's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Mrs Tracy."_

"_Is there anything I can do?" Lucille had asked, struggling with this new information. _

"_I'll organise for the tests to be done when you get back from your vacation and then we'll go from there, okay?" _

_Lucille had nodded but couldn't help but feel that this was all her fault; John's slow development was an obvious result from being born so prematurely, an accident she knew was of her own making, even if Jeff and everyone else told her she wasn't to blame, and the dyslexia? Was that from being born early too?_

"Mom?"

Lucille was broken out of her thoughts by Virgil, another question ready to spill from his mouth.

"What, Virgil?"

"Are we nearly there yet?" Scott asked, cutting his younger brother off. "The babies are being weird."

Lucille looked down at Gordon and Alan who were seated in the stroller, fidgeting and playing a game between them that involved them pushing at each other and laughing hysterically. Lucille's eyes quickly checked their safety fastenings and was relieved to see them still in place, for the time being at least, she grinned, she never knew with those two.

She had rowed with Jeff over bringing the stroller, arguing that, despite both Gordon and Alan being strong walkers, it was too dangerous to have them walking about the streets of London, especially as the family would be doing a lot of walking and if they got tired she could put them in the stroller instead of carrying them and also it was safer to have Gordon, particularly, strapped up as he was wont to try and escape at any given opportunity.

"I think so." She looked around and saw a sign that showed her that they were walking in the right direction. "I don't think it's too much further."

They turned a corner and their destination came into sight, Lucille pointed it out to her sons, "There we are boys."

"Is that where the Queen lives?" Virgil asked, seemingly unimpressed with the building.

"Is that Buckingham Palace?" Scott asked, looking as unimpressed as his younger brother.

"No, its Madame Tussauds." She grinned and steered the stroller in the direction of the building.

It didn't take them long to get through admissions but the stroller had to be left behind at the front which left Gordon and Alan free to roam. Not ideal but Lucille realised she should have thought this would be the case when visiting a museum.

"Okay, boys, don't run off." She said as she quickly grabbed Gordon and Alan's hands before they could escape.

"Where does the Queen live?" Virgil asked.

"We'll see." Lucille said, cryptically. "She's around here somewhere."

The first exhibit they reached was the royal family and they made a beeline for the Queen.

Scott cottoned on straight away that the Queen wasn't real, he opened his mouth to say something but kept it shut after a sharp look from his Mother.

"Is that-?" Virgil asked.

Lucille nodded and she crouched down so she was near the same height as her two youngest sons, "Have you seen the Queen?"

"The Queen?" Gordon repeated, cocking his head to the side and looking up at the still figure.

Alan mimicked his older brother, "The Queen?"

"The Queen of England." Lucy smiled, "Doesn't she look important?"

Alan bobbed his head up and down, "Yup, yup."

"Why hasn't she said hello?" John asked, clearly puzzled.

"Is she dead?" Virgil asked, suddenly in tears.

"Dead?" Gordon asked, not quite knowing what the word meant but understanding the negative connotations of it. He too became tearful and he let out a small sob.

"What? No, no." Lucy knew she had made a mistake and quickly tried to back-pedal. "It's not really the Queen."

But this somehow made the situation worse and soon not only Virgil and Gordon were in tears but John and Alan were too sobbing away, the latter probably only because he picked up on the distress of his older brothers.

"Look what you did, Mom." Scott said, a wide grin on his face, clearly enjoying the mess his mother had gotten herself into.

"Oh, sweethearts," she said, pulling her four youngest sons to her in a hug. "Its okay, its okay. Its only a wax model, the real Queen is okay...sssh, don't cry."

It took a few minutes for Lucy to slow their sobs; all the while earning concerned glances from others who were visiting the museum, she just smiled sheepishly back at anyone who happened to catch her eye.

"Are they okay, love?" An older woman approached Lucy and asked.

"She told them the Queen was dead." Scott told her, his grin having not faded.

"I did not." Lucille blushed bright red and the younger Tracy sons burst into fresh bouts of tears at Scott's words. "It's all just a misunderstanding."

The old lady smiled softly and dug around in her handbag for a few seconds before pulling out a handful of lollypops.

"Ah, I knew I had some in there." She said, counting them quickly. "Six, that's more than enough." She held them out to the crying boys, they one by one stopped and took a lolly from the lady, their sobs soon turning into wide smiles at the sweets. "Don't forget to open them," she said, looking pointedly at Gordon who had shoved his into his mouth, wrapper and all.

"Thank you, ma'am." Lucy said, relieved to have her boys happy once again.

The lady smiled and handed over one of the remaining lolly pops to Scott, "It's no problem, love. I always keep a handful in my bag for when I visit my grandchildren. Nothing brings a smile to their faces quicker than a lolly pop."

She cast one last glance over the group of boys, an affectionate smile tugging at her lips, before turning and leaving.

"Wasn't that lovely?" Lucy asked, prying Gordon's lolly from his pudgy hands, unwrapping it and then giving it back to him before turning her attention to Alan.

"Can we get our picture with the Queen?" Scott asked around his lolly pop, his words slightly slurred.

"That's a good idea." Lucille quickly started to organise her sons around the wax figure of the Queen, they were all too busy sucking on their sweets to really pay attention to their Mom or think of escape, in Gordon's case.

"Say cheese." She grinned as she prepared to take the photo.

She got a mumble of words, none of which sounded like what she had asked for, but let it lie and took the picture.

--

9th February 2007

"I feel awkward." Lucille said, smoothing her dress down and nodding in acknowledgement at a couple who walked past them, looking perfectly at ease in their fine garb. "I haven't worn a dress like this since we were married."

"Stop complaining." Jeff murmured under his breath, leading Lucille into the main room. "You look amazing so there's no need to worry."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "You have to say that, you're married to me."

"No, I say it because it's true." He smiled at her and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. "

"Yeah right." Lucille muttered, smoothing her dress down again.

It was Jeff's turn to roll his eyes. He gave up trying to argue with her and instead just took in the sight of his beautiful wife; dressed in a simple, floor-length gown, made in a silken fabric that flattered her curves perfectly and was just the perfect shade of pale blue to set off her eyes, Lucy looked stunning. Her hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders with only a few locks pulled from her face in an elegant and deceptively effortless manner. She also wore make-up, something that she did extremely rarely, just enough to accentuate her eyes and draw attention to her already striking features.

It had cost Jeff a bomb in hiring the dress and paying for Lucille's hair and make-up to be done but he knew from the second he had seen her all ready to go that it had all been worth it. Absolutely breathtaking was the only way he could describe his wife.

"What are we doing here anywhere?" She asked, smiling at another couple that passed.

"We were invited by a friend of mine." Jeff said, the words rolling off his tongue easily. He had, after all, told her this same information at least six or seven times already in the last half an hour. "She thought it would give us a good opportunity to mingle, you know. Make connections."

"She did?" Lucille did not look pleased. "Is she here?"

"She should be." Jeff said, scanning the crowd of finely dressed figures that chatted and danced. "But then again..."

"I don't think we should have left the boys with that nanny."

"She came highly recommended." Jeff protested, wanting to settle his wife's fears. "From one of the best companies in the whole of England and I did a background check, too. She was clean."

"Its not her that I'm worried about." Lucy murmured, dryly.

He shook his head, a smile threatening to break out, "I double checked, Gordon and Alan were fast asleep when we left."

"That won't stop them creating havoc." Lucille pointed out as a couple approached them.

"Jeff Tracy!" The man exclaimed, holding his hand out to be shaken. "It's been a while."

"I'll agree with you there, Peter." Jeff grinned as he shook the man's hand. "How is everything going?"

"Good, we're opening factories at the fastest rate since we first opened." He told Jeff in a soft Texan accent, winking at him, "But I bet its nothing compared to the famous Tracy Industries."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Jeff said, slightly embarrassed. "We're doing okay."

The man clapped Jeff on the arm, "Quit being so modest, Tracy. It doesn't suit you." He laughed, loudly, and only stopped when his wife cleared her throat. "I don't think you've met my wife, have you? This is Hattie."

Hattie smiled, "I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting before, Jeff."

"No, I don't believe we have." Jeff agreed, shaking her hand.

"Enough of that," Peter cut them off. "Who is this pretty, little lady you have here?"

Lucille blushed and ducked her head, shyly.

Jeff nudged her with his arm, "This is my wife, Lucille."

He took her outstretched hand and brought it to his lips in an exaggerated movement.

"You're a lucky man, Tracy, she's a great catch." These words were followed by a swift elbow to the ribs, courtesy of Hattie. He held up his hands to her in an act of surrender, "Okay, okay. I'll be seeing you around, Tracy." He waggled his eyebrows at Lucille before giving Jeff a quick wave and leaving.

"He hasn't changed a bit." Jeff remarked, lightly.

"He's always like that?" Lucille asked, her eyes wide.

"Yeah. He's what you'd call impossible." He grinned at her. "But at least someone else shares my opinion. You're beautiful."

"Oh, shut up Jeff."

They took a glass of champagne each from a passing waiter and stood together in silence, just off the centre of the great hall.

"Well, this is fun." Lucy said, sipping from her glass.

"I thought there'd be more people here I knew." Jeff told her. "We'll give it another half hour, okay? Then we'll go somewhere else."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

He laughed, "We have the baby sitter, so we might as well use her. Who knows when we'll have another chance of an evening alone?"

"I like your thinking, Mr Tracy." She grinned at him in a manner that made his heart race in his chest.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Jeff caught a glimpse of pink, "I'll be right back, Lucy."

Before Lucy could even protest Jeff was gone and she was left to stand by herself. She let out a soft sigh under her breath and her unease increased tenfold, she wasn't used to all this grandeur.

The minutes dragged by slowly as she sipped from her glass. Her eyes roamed the hall in hopes of locating her husband but to no avail, he had seemingly disappeared into the crowd.

She avoided eye contact with anyone, suddenly feeling shy and frustrated. How long was Jeff planning to be? Leaving her stood here all by herself...

She was just finishing her second glass of champagne nearly ten minutes later when Jeff returned with a young, blonde woman hanging from his arm.

"Oh, Jeff." The woman giggled as they approached, her accent a perfect imitation of the Queen's English. "That's not quite how I remember it."

"Sorry about that, Lucy." Jeff grinned, widely, not looking in the least bit sorry about leaving her stood around by herself.

"Is this your wife?" The woman asked Jeff.

"Yes, I am." Lucille said, trying to keep her tone even. "And who are you?"

"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, at your service." The woman gave a quick curtsey, lifting her elaborately decorated, pink gown from the floor a couple of inches. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, dear. We were caught up by the refreshments table by the Earl of Chester, the man just doesn't know when to take a hint."

Lucille forced herself to smile, "Its okay."

But Lady Penelope didn't seem to hear her, she had already launched into another conversation with Jeff.

Lucille rolled her eyes. It was going to be a long night.

--

10th February 2007

"Boys, come here. I have someone here that I want you to meet." Jeff informed his sons as he closed the door of the hotel suite behind his guest.

Lady Penelope, dressed immaculately, as per usual, in a full outfit of pink, smiled warmly at Jeff and tucked an errant lock of golden hair behind her ear, feeling as confident as always, "I have been looking forward to meeting your sons, Jeff, I'm sure they are as wonderful as you say they are."

Jeff smiled, proudly, "They are."

Two scantily clad figures then shot from one open door, across the room, and into another. There came a couple of shouts then, followed by a loud crash, and a harassed looking Lucy emerged from the room which the two small boys had first been in, holding two shirts and a pair of trousers.

A loud wail floated from the second room then and another crash echoed throughout the suite.

Lucille winced, "That sounded expensive."

"I thought you put all the vases out of reach?" Jeff asked, giving Lady Penelope an apologetic smile.

"I did." She then turned to Lady Penelope and forced out a smile, "Good morning, Lady Penelope. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to sort that out."

There was more crying then and Lucille quickly dashed into the room, her voice floating back into the main room as she tried to sort out her sons.

"Alan...Sssh, angel." They heard her coo and the crying ebbed slightly. "Get away from there-Gordon, no!"

"I think I should give her a hand." Jeff swiftly disappeared too, leaving Lady Penelope standing awkwardly by herself.

"Put that down." She heard Jeff say, "_Now_, Gordon."

He received a reply but it was too muffled by other voices to be heard properly. There were a few more minutes of quick talking from the parents and heated words from the children before the family filed into the main room, all looking ruffled.

"Sorry about that." Jeff said

"Don't be." Lady Penelope gave him a dazzling smile. "I trust nobody was hurt?"

"It was a close thing." Jeff told her.

"Boys will be boys." Lady Penelope smiled, winking at who she supposed to be the eldest of the Tracy sons, "Are you going to introduce me?"

"Of course. Boys, this is Lady Penelope." Jeff motioned to her with a sweep of the arm. "Lady Penelope, these are my sons."

He quickly ran through each of his sons and she shook each of their hands, even little Alan's, who was being held by his Mother, his eyes wet with tears. They were all in various states of undress apart from Scott who was fully dressed and seemingly ready to leave. John and Virgil were missing socks and a shirt respectively while Alan was missing his trousers. Gordon wore only his underwear and didn't look in the least bit put out at being basically naked in front of their guest, in fact he seemed to enjoy his lack of clothing and took great pleasure from playing with his belly button.

"We were running a little bit late." Jeff explained when she glanced at him, questioningly.

"Ah."

"Are you a princess?" Virgil asked, moving away from his Mother's side to pull at Lady Penelope's skirt.

"No, dear." She said, patting him on the head, unsure of what else to do. "I'm not."

"But you're special?" He asked, slightly upset by the answered he had received.

"Leave her alone, Virge." Scott said, moving forward and nudging his younger brother out of the way. "Your questions are stupid. Aren't they stupid, Lady Penelope?"

Lady Penelope opened her mouth to respond but was cut off.

"They are not!" Virgil inched closer to her again and continued to pull at her skirt, though, with greater vigour. "Do you live in a castle?"

"Not-." She was cut off again, but this time by Scott.

"Nobody really lives in castles anymore, do they, Lady Penelope?"

Gordon decided at that point that he wanted to join in and squirmed between his brothers he screeched, "Pen-eli-pee!"

He grabbed at the hem of her skirt and pulled it up over his head, displaying Lady Penelope's underwear for all to see.

"Gordon!" Lucille scolded as Lady Penelope pried her skirt from the red-head's grasp, her cheeks tinted pink.

"Oh my." She murmured as Jeff scooped up Gordon into his arms, the nearly three year old grinning broadly.

"I'm so sorry." Jeff said, quickly, giving Gordon a stern look.

Lady Penelope didn't quite know what to say.

"I suppose boys will be boys?" Lucy offered, trying to hide her grin.

"Indeed." Lady Penelope agreed after a moment of hesitation. "I suppose they will."

--

A/N- What do you think? Lucille jealous, do you think? :p


	15. Chapter 15

A/N- Hidey-hi! I'm sorry its taken me a whole week to get another update up for you! The last week really just ran away with me...I don't know where it went, really. Anywho- thanks to all the wonderful people that reviewed the last chapter, I'm glad you all enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy it just as much, though, I have to warn you now- its a little bit John-centric. But, hey. I'm a whupping, great-big John fan and I've been good up to this point, haven't I? :-D Anyway, please enjoy!

Disclaimer- I own nothing apart from mistakes.

--

3rd March 2007

"Are you sure you don't mind watching them?"

"I do actually."

Lucille opened her mouth to respond but she didn't know what to say, so, she closed it again.

Helena laughed, placing a hand on Lucy's arm, she said, "I'm just messing with you, Lucy. I wouldn't do that to you, especially at the last minute."

Lucy placed a hand over her heart and let out a relieved sigh, "I nearly had a heart attack, the thought of trying to load the rest of the boys into the car... We're already running late."

Helena smiled and guided her friend to the front door.

"We won't be long, maybe an hour or something. You've got my cell phone number, haven't you?" Lucy asked as she pushed the front door open.

"Yes, yes." Helena rolled her eyes again. "Its like you don't want to go or something."

When Lucille didn't respond something clicked in Helena's head, suddenly her friend's attempted delays made sense.

"Lucy...Don't beat yourself up about it. John's fine, he's happy." She wrapped an arm around Lucy's waist and pulled her close. "He's dyslexic, so what? And whatever the Doctor's going to say, it doesn't matter, does it? He's your little boy."

"I know, I just feel so guilty." Lucille could feel the tears gathering in her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

Helena let out a soft sigh, understanding what Lucille was feeling. When they had first become friends Helena had asked about John, wondering what was wrong with him, being so small and frail looking, and Lucille had told her, after a bit of prodding, about the accident that had brought the little boy into the world nearly three months early.

"It wasn't your fault." Helena told her. "You didn't throw yourself down the stairs, did you?"

Lucille shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

"It was an accident, Lucy. Nothing more."

Lucille nodded and wiped at her eyes, "You're right, I just can't help but feel horrible about it. 'What ifs' keep running through my head-."

"The past is the past, there's nothing you can do about it." Helena let her arm drop away from Lucille's waist. "Johnny needs you. Now go, you're going to be late."

"Thanks, Helena." Lucille gave her a soft smile before exiting the house and making her way to the car where Jeff and John were already waiting.

"What took you so long?" Jeff asked, pulling out of the driveway.

"Nothing, I was just talking to Helena." Lucille said, waving at Helena, her three children and her own sons who had gathered on the porch to see them off. "Wave, Johnny."

John did as he was told and waved at his siblings and friends through the window, "Bye!"

Lucille turned around in her seat after a few moments and looked at her second-born son, "Are you okay back there?"

"Yup." John said, nodding and looking at his mother with bright, excited eyes. "Where are we going?"

"To the Doctors." Lucy told him, a fond smile tugging at her lips despite the worry and fear that twisted in her stomach. "Doctor Hartley wants to see you."

"Me?" John asked, sounding surprised and also slightly scared.

"Yeah, she wants to make sure you're doing okay."

"Just a check-up, Johnny." Jeff added, glancing back at the blonde through the rear view mirror. "She wants to check that you're growing up to be big and strong."

"Like Scotty?"

"Yeah, just like Scotty."

"I don't think I'll ever be as tall as Scotty." John told his parents, a serious expression on his little face. "Or as strong."

"You will be, baby." Lucille reached out and ruffled his hair. "One day, you will be."

John grinned, "Do you think so, Mom?"

"I know so."

John's grin grew even wider, if that had been at all possible, "I'll be the big brother then."

Lucille laughed, "You sure will."

It didn't take them long after that to reach the Doctor's surgery, arriving just in time, if not a couple of minutes late, for the start of their appointment. They were showed straight into Doctor Hartley's room where she was already waiting, a bright smile on her face.

"Hello there, young man." She said to John once the door had been closed.

John immediately hid himself behind his mother, holding tightly onto her trouser leg and refusing to look at the Doctor, blushing madly.

"Are we a bit shy?" She asked, kindly, indicating for Jeff and Lucille to take a seat.

Lucille struggled to pry her trousers from John's iron-like grip, "Just a little bit."

"Come on, John, let Mommy go so she can sit down." Jeff said to his son, having already taken his seat.

"Its okay, baby, Doctor Hartley is nice. You can let go, she won't hurt you." Lucille coaxed, running her hands through his soft, blonde hair. "You can sit on my knee, if you want."

John finally relented at these words and allowed himself to be pulled onto his mother's lap, burying his head into her chest as soon as he was seated.

"He's not normally this bad." Jeff said, apologetically.

"Its fine." Doctor Hartley waved it off. "We all get a bit shy sometimes."

"I think he's used to having all his brothers around." Lucille told her, stroking John's hair soothingly. "We don't usually take just one of the boys out by themselves."

Doctor Hartley nodded and then said, "After speaking to you on the phone on Tuesday I phoned John's class teacher and we had a little chat. She believes that John is behind all of the other children his age development-wise but she doesn't seem to think its anything to be overly worried about. John was born prematurely wasn't he?"

"Nearly three months."

"That's probably the reason for it. It may take a little while for John to catch up with the other children, maybe a couple of years, but it will happen." Doctor Hartley told them before going on to explain the problems that some children who were born prematurely grew up to have while reassuring Lucille and Jeff that John didn't seem to be exhibiting any further problems than his late development.

She then went on to talk about John's dyslexia, how best to help him and suggested a couple of different study programmes to help him with his school work. She explained that just because he was dyslexic it didn't mean that his intelligence was affected in any way.

"What about his height?" Jeff asked, having been somewhat put at ease by the doctor's words. "His younger brother has over an inch on him and he's only five."

"Virgil is tall for his age." Lucille supplied.

"I'd like to give John a quick examination, if that'd be okay." Doctor Hartley said, giving John a kind smile when he glanced at her, a fearful look on his face. "I just want to check you over, sweetie."

John slipped from his mother's knee with great trepidation, after a few comforting words from his Mom, and walked towards the doctor. He stood bravely, despite his obvious fear, throughout the whole thing and only looked back to Lucille once.

The doctor was true to her word and the examination was done in a matter of minutes.

"I don't think there's anything to worry about, physically. He's very small and light but I expect that he'll make it up once he hits puberty. That's not to say, however, that he'll ever be as tall as he would have been if he had been born full term but I don't think he should be far off."

"That's a relief, isn't it, Lucy?" Jeff asked his wife, a pleased smile on his face.

Lucille nodded, hugging John to her chest, tightly. The blonde little boy hugged her back just as firmly, comforted by being in his mother's arms once again.

"You'll be as tall as Scotty, just you wait and see." She whispered to him.

--

4th April 2007

Gordon bruised like a banana. So did John and Scott but Virgil and Alan were made from harder stuff, they took after their mother. It wasn't common knowledge with anyone, apart from perhaps Lucille and Ruth Tracy, that all you had to do was look at Jeff and he bruised. It was an unfortunate attribute that left the majority of the Tracy sons looking like the walking wounded.

Lucille sighed as she finished patching up Gordon from his latest misadventure, Gordon versus the kitchen cabinet, round two, before sending him on his way.

"Be careful!" She called out after him, fully aware that her words wouldn't have any effect on him.

She sighed again as she saw him run into the door in his haste to get out of the room. He stopped for a moment, slightly dazed, before continuing on his way, laughing madly.

Lucille just shook her head and started clearing away the first aid kit.

"That boy is insane." Jeff commented from the doorway.

"I was just thinking the same thing." She smiled at him, tiredly. "I hope he wears himself out before bedtime."

Jeff looked at his watch, "Not a chance. I don't think I should have given him all that sugar at dinner."

"I told you not to."

"I know." Jeff pulled at his tie. "But I didn't think an extra cookie would make that much of a difference."

Lucille snorted, "Well, its your problem now. I'm putting the oldest three to bed tonight."

Jeff groaned and slouched against the doorframe, "That's not fair."

"Life's not fair, Jeff." She reminded him. "Besides, I put the terrible twosome to bed last night. Its your turn."

"Fine." He pouted before his expression softened, he walked to where his wife was sitting in the dining room chair and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind. "What's the matter?"

She leaned back against him, her head lolling against his shoulder, "I'm just tired, it has been a busy couple of weeks."

"How are the sessions with John going?" He asked, kissing the top of her head.

She sighed, again, "I didn't realise how much he was struggling, he never said anything before, but they're helping him, I think, even if they are hard. For the both of us."

Jeff's grip tightened but he didn't say anything.

They sat in silence for a few moments, the sounds of the household washing over them.

"I heard from Lady Penelope today."

"You did?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, she's doing well. She asked about the boys."

Lucille grinned, "I take it that she's forgiven Gordon?

Jeff laughed, shaking his head, "I had never been so embarrassed in my life."

"I doubt she had, either." Lucy yawned. "How did you meet her, anyway?"

"Her Father owns a large construction company, she got in touch with me on his behalf to discuss working together on some projects and we went on from there."

"Oh, not as interesting as I thought it'd be." She yawned again.

A sudden wailing disrupted the comfortable quiet that had descended over the couple and it grew closer with every passing second.

Jeff moved away from his wife and scooped his youngest son into his arms when the crying toddler threw himself at his Father. There was no obvious sign of injury, Jeff noted as he tried to soothe the blonde, but Alan was definitely upset about something. He cried a lot, more so than the others had done at his age, but never normally with such intensity.

"What's the matter, little guy?" Jeff asked, stroking Alan's soft hair.

Lucille shared a concerned glance with Jeff as Alan began to speak, his words unintelligible.

"Its okay, Allie." Jeff tried to soothe his son but to no avail, Alan's crying only became louder.

Then, out of nowhere, a loud bang, angry shouts and a cry of pain sounded from upstairs.

Lucille was immediately out of the room and running up the stairs, two at a time. The noise led her to John and Virgil's room, she pushed the door open and launched herself into the room, ignoring the upturned toy box, and pulled apart her two fighting boys.

"What is going on here?" She demanded, all feelings of tiredness having disappeared. She had a hold of the left arm of each boy and struggled to keep them apart as they tried to get at each other. "What do you think you're doing, huh?"

"Johnny hit me, Mom!" Virgil pointed at his infuriated blonde brother and rubbed his stomach where he had been hit, giving up on trying to get his older brother. "Just here!"

Lucille turned to look at John, "Is this true, John?"

The seven year looked to be fighting back tears and looked pitiful with his nose bleeding freely down his t-shirt, but, still, he was trying to wriggle from his mother's grasp and anger was clearly evident on his face.

Lucille let go of Virgil and used both hands to take hold of John's struggling form, "Calm down, John, do you want me to call for your Dad?"

John shook his head and stilled, "No, Mommy."

"Good boy. Now promise me, if I let you go you're not going to go running at Virgil, okay?" Lucille asked and slowly let go of her second eldest's arms when he nodded. "Now, are you going to tell me why you were trying to kill each other?"

"Virgil called me stupid." John murmured, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "He said that I shouldn't be allowed to go to school and that I should stay at home with the babies."

Virgil squared his jaw and glared at his older brother, "You're a dummy, Johnny, and a tattle-tale, too."

"Virgil!" Lucille scolded, shocked at the brunette's words.

"Its true, Mommy. Its what everyone says at school. Mikey Jones says that John should be in Kindergarten because he's so stupid, he says that Johnny can't read or write."

"I can!" John protested, holding his bloody nose and looking at his Mother, desperately. "I can, can't I, Mommy?"

"Shut up, dummy. You've had your time with Mommy tonight." Virgil said before Lucille had chance to say anything. "She doesn't want to-."

"Virgil." Lucy cut him off, her voice holding a tone that Virgil knew not to argue with. "Go downstairs to the music room, I'll meet you there."

Virgil nodded, sullenly, before stamping off, glaring at John once again.

"Johnny, baby." Was all she managed before John ran out of the room and from her open arms. She sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that night and made her way downstairs, vowing to find the upset blonde later. But, at that moment, she knew there wasn't anything she could do for him so instead went to her other son.

Virgil was sat in front of the piano, his face a storm cloud, and angrily hitting at the keys.

Lucille took the seat next to him on the bench and started to play a simple tune on the keys in front of her, ignoring Virgil for the time being.

It took nearly ten minutes for Virgil to calm down enough to join in with his Mother's rendition of 'Twinkle, twinkle'. They played together for a while, Lucille trying to keep the smile from her face at the ease with which her son's fingers glided over the keys. He was showing exceptional talent for a five year old and Lucille couldn't help but feel proud of him.

"Are you going to tell me why you said those horrible things to Johnny?" She asked.

Virgil faltered and looked up at Lucy with a guilty look on his face, "I didn't mean to be so mean. I was just angry."

"What were you angry about?"

"Its not fair, Mom." Virgil said after a few minutes of struggling for words. "I wanted you to help me with my homework tonight but instead you went and helped Johnny."

Lucille thought that this would be the case, she knew just how jealous and clingy Virgil could be at times. She stopped playing her tune and wrapped an arm around Virgil's shoulder and pulled him to her.

"You know I love you, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you know that I'd do anything for you."

Virgil nodded, slowly.

"You have to remember that I love your brothers too, and, sometimes, they might need my help with something. John needs a lot of help right now with his school work, not because he's stupid but because..." She struggled for words, not knowing how to phrase John's problem.

"He needs to get better, so the other kids are nice to him?" Virgil asked.

"That's right, Virge." Lucille planted a kiss on the top of his head.

"What I said was really, really mean, wasn't it?" He asked, guiltily.

"It was." Lucille told him. "You'll have to apologise to Johnny."

Virgil sighed, "I know. But, do I have to go now? Can't we play for just a little bit longer?"

Her heart softened when he looked up at her with his large, blue eyes.

"Ten minutes but then you'll have to go and say sorry and get your punishment from Daddy and I."

Virgil groaned, "Yes, Mommy."

"Good boy, now what do you want to play?"

--

28th May 2007

"Scott! Scott!"

Scott looked away from the ball game he was playing with his friends and to the figure that shouted his name, frantically.

"Virgil?" He asked, surprised. The little kids normally didn't come onto this part of the playground.

"Quick, Scotty! It's Johnny!"

Scott followed Virgil as he ran in the direction of the other schoolyard, the one usually reserved for the little kids, "Where are the teachers?"

"Sarah Wilson fell out of the tree and she hit her head so they've all gone inside with her!" Virgil explained, quickly, his pace as unrelenting as ever. "They're going to beat him up!"

Worry for his younger brother surged through Scott and spurred him on to run faster than he had ever run in his life. It wasn't long before he had over taken Virgil and was running in the direction of the large group of children that had gathered in one corner.

"Leave him alone!" Scott ordered, pushing his way through the crowd. "Don't you dare hurt my little brother, Mikey!"

Mikey Jones was a tall boy with wide, brown eyes, a pointy nose and thin, cruel lips that seemed to always be turned up in a sneer. He was in the same class as John but was known throughout the playground for his bullying ways.

He stood over John, threateningly, "Or what, Scott? What are you going to do to me? You're nothing but a goody-two-shoe."

Scott growled and launched himself at the younger boy, sending them both to the ground. Scott swung wildly at him and Mikey tried to kick him off. Scott was the biggest and heaviest of the two and it didn't take him long to have the younger boy pinned to the floor.

"Nobody hurts my little brothers, Mikey." Scott hit him again in the gut before climbing to his feet and going to John.

He knelt next to the blonde and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "It's okay, Johnny."

Mikey had dragged himself to his feet now and looked down at the Tracy brothers with a vicious look on his face, "I don't know why you'd protect a cry-baby like that, I'd be embarrassed if he was my brother."

"He's not a cry-baby." Scott argued, he looked at his brother's face and was shocked to see tears running down the blonde's face. Scott was shocked. John hardly ever cried, not like Virgil or Allie who cried at the drop of a hat, John wasn't like that. Scott didn't think he'd seen John cry since they had visited the Queen in London. "Johnny, are you okay?"

"My tummy hurts." John moaned, leaning into his elder brother.

"I told you he was a cry-baby." Mikey boasted, dusting himself off. "He can't even put up with a little tummy-."

Mikey was cut off when a fist connected with the side of his face.

"You leave John alone!" Virgil shouted, feeling sorry for his older brother. He knew that he was mean to John, and had said some really terrible things, but he understood that he was wrong and after talking with his Mom on a few occasions he understood just how much those words hurt. He wasn't about to allow some bully to be horrible to his brother.

"Virgil Tracy!"

One of the teachers had appeared back on the playground and had made a beeline for the large group of children, she had been just in time for seeing Virgil hit the older boy.

"He hit me!" Mikey wailed to the teacher, clutching at his face.

"He was being mean to John!" Virgil protested, rubbing at his sore fist. He had never hit anyone so hard before.

A few of the other kids from the group piped up at that point, backing up Virgil.

"Its true, miss!" One little girl said.

"Mikey was going to beat up John!"

"I didn't want him to hurt my brother." Virgil said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"That's all very well, Virgil, but you know that hitting people is wrong." The teacher said. "I'm going to have to-."

"Miss!" Scott called, breaking the teacher off.

"Johnny is poorly!" Scott hugged his brother to him. "He feels really warm and he says his tummy hurts!"

Just then, John turned his head from his brother and vomited all over the floor.

--

A/N- A little cliffhanger. Not too bad... Review, please!


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